Atopic dermatitis (AD) or eczema is a chronic skin condition. The skin becomes red, itchy, and flares up easily. The minimal key changes in eczema’s area, and severity determines its threshold. Evaluation strategies like minimal important change (MIC) are valuable. MIC of Eczema Area and EASI (Severity Index) and Scoring Atopic Dermatitis (SCORAD) are widely in use. But their relevancy across diverse AD severities is not clear. This study evaluates MIC’s meaningfulness and utility.
Researchers assessed the percentage and absolute improvements of EASI and SCORAD. The subjects were 826 adults and children with AD. The inputs for this study were the dermatologist evaluations and questionnaires. The researchers determined the thresholds for absolute and % MIC of EASI, SCORAD, and O-SCORAD (objective). This anchor-based approach was done at the follow-up from the baseline.
One‐grade improvements of PGA (Physician’s Global Assessment) and vIGA-AD (Validated Investigator’s Global Assessment of AD) showed a decrease to EASI (50%), SCORAD(35%), and O-SCORAD (35%). The PGA and vIGA-AD improvements showed 14 and 14.9 points EASI decrements. For SCORAD and O-SCORAD, the decreases were 19.9 and 14.9, and 15.5 and 17.4. The improvements in AD symptoms and quality of life showed a high association with absolute and %MIC.
The %MIC threshold for EASI, SCORAD, and O-SCORAD was relevant across AD severity, but the absolute MIC thresholds for each index differed significantly by baseline AD severity.
Ref: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bjd.19457
