title: ItchApp©: An App-based eDiary for Assessment of Chronic Pruritus in Clinical Trials.
abstract: Performing a reliable assessment of chronic pruritus remains a challenge. Electronic diaries are often used, but many of the scales have not been validated. ItchApp© was developed for Android smartphones in order to address this lack. A total of 40 subjects with chronic pruritus completed questionnaires both on paper and with ItchApp© (verbal rating scale, numerical rating scale, dynamic pruritus score) in order to validate the software application. Strong correlations were found for test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient: 0.865-0.977) and convergent validity (Spearman's r: 0.442-0.924). A feasibility questionnaire for ItchApp© revealed a high level of user friendliness and compliance. This was confirmed in a randomized controlled trial with 68 subjects, for which the clinically important difference in the numerical rating scale values for ItchApp© was calculated (2.61 points). In summary, ItchApp© is a recently developed eDiary that can provide experts with a reliable evaluation of patients with chronic pruritus. It will be made available for future clinical trials.
authors.affiliation: Center for Chronic Pruritus, Department of Dermatology, University Hospital Münster, Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: Marvin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gernart
authors.forename: Athanasios
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tsianakas
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zeidler
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Riepe
authors.forename: Nani
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Osada
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pihan
authors.forename: Sonja
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ständer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000982:Antipruritics / Q000627:therapeutic use; D040421:Cell Phone; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D063731:Mobile Applications; D064729:Neurokinin-1 Receptor Antagonists / Q000627:therapeutic use; D010349:Patient Compliance; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011537:Pruritus / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012107:Research Design; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000982:Antipruritics; D064729:Neurokinin-1 Receptor Antagonists