Impact of biologic treatment on the quality of life in patients with atopic dermatitis

Atopic dermatitis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease with a gradually increasing incidence and prevalence in the population. Depending on the severity of the skin manifestations, it is accompanied by varying degrees of mental disorders and their understanding is essential for a comprehensive approach to the treatment of patients, including psychodermatological care. Equally important is the somatization of mental health problems, which we encounter more and more often in our practice and it is necessary to take them into account. Thanks to new treatment modalities, we are now able not only to relieve patients of their skin symptoms, or to completely suppress them, but also to greatly contribute to mitigating their impact on daily activities and mental health, which ultimately leads to an overall improvement in the quality of life of patients with atopic dermatitis. We have a number of simple tools available to objectify the local findings and the overall impact on patients' quality of life, mainly in the form of questionnaires or on-line calculators, the adoption of which leads to more accurate diagnostics and gives us and our patients valuable feedback with regard to treatment effectiveness.

Keywords: atopic dermatitis, quality of life, mental burden, biologic treatment.