title: An international multicenter study on quality of life and family quality of life in children with atopic dermatitis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Atopic dermatitis (AD) has severe impact on the quality of life (QoL) of children suffering from the disease and their families. The infant's dermatitis quality of life index (IDQoL) and the dermatitis family impact questionnaire (DFI) were designed to study this impact.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To compare the impact of AD on children and their families in different countries.
  
  
  METHODS
  419 children with AD from six countries representing three continents under the age of 4 years were included into the study. English, Ukrainian, Czech, Portuguese, and Korean versions of the IDQoL and the DFI and Dutch version of the IDQoL questionnaires were used.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The highest scored items for the IDQoL and the DFI were rather similar. The IDQoL and the DFI results were well correlated with parental assessment of disease severity and between each other in all countries. Some differences mostly in the IDQoL assessment were found.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Despite some reported peculiarities, parents in different counties assessed QoL and family QoL of their AD children in a similar way. The IDQoL and the DFI may be reliable initial measures for international studies. International study on the influence of the same treatment methods on the IDQoL and the DFI assessments is important.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology and Venereology, National Medical University, Kiev, Ukraine.
authors.forename: Pavel V
authors.initials: PV
authors.lastname: Chernyshov
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jirakova
authors.forename: Roger C M
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Ho
authors.forename: Heleen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Moed
authors.forename: Antonio P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Caldeira
authors.forename: Tasssiana M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Alvarenga
authors.forename: Chun W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Jana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hercogova
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D018153:Czech Republic; D003876:Dermatitis, Atopic / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D004739:England; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009426:Netherlands; D011174:Portugal; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D056910:Republic of Korea; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014455:Ukraine