Occurrence, chronicity and intensity of itch in a clinical consecutive sample of patients with skin diseases: A multi-centre study in 13 european countries
Schut, Christina; Dalgard, Florence; Halvorsen, Jon Anders; Gieler, Uwe; Lien, Lars; Aragones, Lucia Tomas; Poot, Francoise; Jemec, Gregor B.E.; Misery, Laurent; Kemény, Lajos; Sampogna, Francesca; van Middendorp, Henriët; Balieva, Flora Nicol; Linder, Dennis; Szepietöwski, Jacek C.; Lvov, Andrey; Marrón, Servando E.; Altunay, Ilknur K.; Finlay, Andrew Y.; Salek, Sam; Kupfer, Jörg
Abstract
Itch is an unpleasant symptom, affecting many dermatological patients. Studies investigating the occurrence and intensity of itch in dermatological patients often focus on a single skin disease and omit a control group with healthy skin. The aim of this multi-centre study was to assess the occurrence, chronicity and intensity (visual analogue scale 0-10) of itch in patients with different skin diseases and healthy-skin controls. Out of 3,530 dermatological patients, 54.3% reported itch (mean ± standard deviation itch intensity 5.5 ± 2.5), while out of 1,094 healthy-skin controls 8% had itch (3.6 ± 2.3). Chronic itch was reported by 36.9% of the patients and 4.7% of the healthy-skin controls. Itch was most frequent (occurrence rates higher than 80%) in patients with unclassified pruritus, prurigo and related conditions, atopic dermatitis and hand eczema. However, many patients with psychodermatological conditions and naevi also reported itch (occurrence rates higher than 19%).