The following is a summary of “Achieving consensus on patient-reported outcome measures in clinical practice for inflammatory skin disorders,” published in the JANUARY 2023 issue of Dermatology by Perez-Chada, et al.
In order to show the effectiveness of treatment for inflammatory dermatoses, International Dermatology Outcome Measures and the American Academy of Dermatology reached an agreement on a physician-reported global severity measure. For a study, researchers sought to get agreement on 1 of the patient-reported outcome indicators for clinical practice because the metrics were also crucial.
In research that used a modified Delphi approach to establish agreement. A minimum set of evaluations for clinical practice, patient global assessments (PtGAs), Skindex instruments, and the ultimate instrument choice for quality improvement were the main topics of voting.
The majority of 53 stakeholders (>70%) agreed that the identification of patient objectives, the evaluation of treatment harm, and the evaluation of the effectiveness of the treatment response were the essential evaluations required for clinical practice. The PtGA with a 5-point scale (scale 0–4; 0 = clear, 4 = severe) and an optional checkbox for worst ever were the most popular. They suggested a new metric, the trajectory measure, to measure the evolution since the start of therapy. PtGAs and a trajectory measure for clinical practice were out-favored by stakeholders in favor of Skindex equipment.
PtGAs taken in isolation did not sufficiently reflect how seriously the patient took their illness or the impact of their treatment. In clinical practice, a PtGA together with a Skindex instrument or another indicator of health-related quality of life may provide a more thorough assessment of patients.