February 11, 2019

Hidradenitis suppurativa has a significant negative impact on patient quality of life, which has been reported to be greater than that of atopic eczema and psoriasis.

The HIDRAdisk, a validated, visual, interactive electronic instrument completed together by patients and dermatologists, is an easy-to-use quality of life tool that could improve the management of hidradenitis suppurativa while also strengthening patient-clinician relationships, according to a study published in Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venerology.

The chronic relapsing inflammatory skin disease hidradenitis suppurativa has a significant negative impact on patient quality of life, which has been reported to be greater than that of atopic eczema and psoriasis. This multicenter, longitudinal, observational study was designed to demonstrate the reliability, responsiveness, and overall validity of HIDRAdisk, a new tool designed to rapidly assess hidradenitis suppurativa burden with an intuitive graphic visual of the measurement outcome. Study authors compared HIDRAdisk with the following validated questionnaires: Work Productivity and Activity Impairment-General Health (WPAI:GH), Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI), and Skindex-16. They evaluated HIDRAdisk’s correlation with disease severity as measured by Hurley stage and Hidradenitis Suppurativa Physician Global Assessment (HS-PGA).

Participants were identified from 27 Italian dermatologic centers (N=140; mean age 34.9±11.0 years, 59% women). HIDRAdisk showed a statistically significant correlation with both Hurley stage (P =.0002) and HS-PGA (P =.0041), a good correlation with WPAI:GH (correlation coefficient: 0.5947), and a strong correlation with Skindex-16 (correlation coefficient: 0.7568) and DLQI (correlation coefficient: 0.6651). Very good internal consistency was demonstrated, with raw and standardized Cronbach coefficient values greater than >0.80 (0.894 and 0.898, respectively), correlation between the 10 items ranging between 0.308 and 0.673, good test-retest reliability (Spearman correlation coefficient, 0.8331; P <0.0001), and statistically significant responsiveness to changes.

Study investigators concluded that “the HIDRAdisk is a validated visual instrument administered on electronic devices, completed by patient and dermatologist together, making it an easy-to-use [quality of life] tool that, in our wishes, should be implemented soon in routine clinical practice to improve the management of [hidradenitis suppurativa], as well as strengthen the patient–physician relationship.”

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Reference

Peris K, Lo Schiavo A, Fabbrocini G, et al. HIDRAdisk: validation of an innovative visual tool to assess the burden of hidradenitis suppurativa [published online January 11, 2019]. J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol. doi: 10.1111/jdv.15425