A proposal: Atopic Dermatitis Organizer (ADO) guideline for children

ABSTRACT

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is the most common chronic inflammatory skin disorder in children, with a worldwide cumulative prevalence in children of 8-20%. The number of AD patients is beyond the level that can be dealt with at clinics and it is time to make an effort to reduce the number of AD patients in the community. Thus, caregivers and all persons involved with AD management, including health care providers, educators, technologists and medical policy makers, should understand the development and the management of AD. Although a number of guidelines such as Practical Allergy (PRACTALL) report have been developed and used, community understanding of these is low. This is probably because there are still remarkable differences in management practices between specialists and between countries and most of the reported guidelines have been prepared for physicians. From the viewpoint of providing a basis for a multidisciplinary team approach, easily comprehensible guidelines for organizing treatment of AD, i.e. an Atopic Dermatitis Organizer (ADO), are required. guidelines should be simple and well organized. We suggest an easy approach with a new classification of AD symptoms into early and/or progressive lesions in acute and/or chronic symptoms. The contents of this ADO guideline basically consist of 3 steps approaches: conservative management, topical anti-inflammatory therapy, and systemic anti-inflammatory therapy.