Diagnosis and Severity Assessment of Atopic Dermatitis (Korean Guideline Included)

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common chronic dermatitis, which is clinically diagnosed with high prevalence rate in the pediatric population worldwide, but, it can occur in all ages. AD has certain common clinical features between patients in various age groups, but some clinical characteristics in adult-onset AD and AD in elderly have been largely veiled until recent years, and much still remains to be explored. Diagnosis of AD in these groups is not easy, and diagnostic criteria for AD in these groups is needed to be established. Assessment of disease severity is necessary to choose appropriate treatment for the current status of AD patients and to determine the efficacy of the treatment. This chapter will discuss the reported diagnostic criteria in various age groups and disease severity assessment tools of AD used worldwide. It will review various physicians’ severity scoring systems and patients’ reported outcome measurements used in clinical trials and focused on their potential usefulness in real clinical practice. The chapter will also focus on the definition of responder and treatment refractoriness of the disease in general and the relevant special considerations when and who is in need of step-up treatment.