title: Clinical course of atopic dermatitis in Japanese patients.
abstract: We conducted a questionnaire study of 117 patients, who had first consulted the Department of Dermatology Kumamoto University Hospital 20 or 30 years ago, regarding the clinical course of atopic dermatitis (AD). Forty-one patients responded to the questionnaire. Seventeen patients (41.4%) had recovered and 24 patients (58.6%) still had AD. The AD had resolved in 12 of 13 (92.2%) with mild disease severity, four of 18 (22.2%) with moderate severity and one of ten (10%) with severe disease. The outcome was significantly better in the mild group than in the moderate or severe group (chi2=15.5, P=0.0008/chi2=14.8, P=0.00012, respectively). The resolution of the disease was not correlated with the sex of patient, age at onset, period of disease or family history.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Kumamoto University School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hirai
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kageshita
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Syono
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Maekawa
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ono
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003876:Dermatitis, Atopic / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male