title: Disease severity, scratching, and sleep quality in patients with atopic dermatitis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The relationship between sleep quality and disease severity in patients with atopic dermatitis has not been clearly defined.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sleep efficiency and scratching were measured over 2 nights by polysomnography, actigraphy, and self-report in 20 adults with atopic dermatitis. Tumor necrosis factor, interleukin (IL)-6, and IL-10 were assayed from a subset of 9 participants.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Sleep measured by actigraphy and polysomnography were strongly associated with each other. Decreased sleep efficiency was associated with increasing disease severity, scratching, and IL-6. Self-reported sleep quality and quality of life were not significantly correlated with either objective sleep measure.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Results in this pilot study await confirmation in a larger investigation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Objective measures but not self-report documented that increasing severity of atopic dermatitis results in more scratching and declining sleep quality. Our data also suggest an important relationship between sleep and IL-6.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, National Jewish Medical and Research Center, Denver, Colorado 80206, USA. benderb@njc.org
authors.forename: Bruce G
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Bender
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ballard
authors.forename: Beth
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Canono
authors.forename: James R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.forename: Donald Y M
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Leung
mesh_terms: D000204:Activity Cycles; D000328:Adult; D016207:Cytokines / Q000096:biosynthesis; D003876:Dermatitis, Atopic / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018670:Monitoring, Ambulatory; D009000:Monocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D010865:Pilot Projects; D017286:Polysomnography; D011537:Pruritus; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012890:Sleep; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines; D015850:Interleukin-6