title: Validation of CADESI-03, a severity scale for clinical trials enrolling dogs with atopic dermatitis.
abstract: In dogs, atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common and chronic allergic skin disease that often necessitates treatment with pharmacological interventions. In the last 30 years, numerous clinical trials testing the efficacy of anti-inflammatory drugs have been reported, but there has been a lack of consistency in the assessment of outcome measures. Several clinical scales have been employed over time, but none of these scoring systems were ever tested for validity and reliability. A committee of the International Task Force on Canine Atopic Dermatitis evaluated the currently available scales used to assess disease morbidity in humans and dogs with AD, and a third version of the Canine Atopic Dermatitis Extent and Severity Index (CADESI-03) was designed. This version was expanded from previous ones by redistribution and increase in body sites tested, the use of an additional lesion reflecting underlying pruritus (e.g. self-induced alopecia) and an increase in the numerical range of severity for each lesion. The CADESI-03 scale was tested for validity and reliability in a cohort of 38 dogs with AD. Overall, this revised version of the CADESI was found to exhibit acceptable content, construct, criterion, and inter- and intra-observer reliability and sensitivity to change. As a result, this scale is recommended as a validated tool for assessment of disease severity in clinical trials testing the efficacy of interventions in dogs with AD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA. Thierry_Olivry@ncsu.edu
authors.forename: Thierry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Olivry
authors.forename: Rosanna
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Marsella
authors.forename: Toshiroh
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Iwasaki
authors.forename: Ralf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mueller
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D003876:Dermatitis, Atopic / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D004283:Dog Diseases / Q000473:pathology*; D004285:Dogs; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D010147:Pain Measurement; D011537:Pruritus / Q000473:pathology / Q000662:veterinary*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012720:Severity of Illness Index