Abstract
Atopic dermatitis (AD), a chronic relapsing inflammatory skin disease with a high disease burden, is one of the most common dermatological conditions in Japan. Herein, we report the disease profiles and current AD treatment during 2-year management of Japanese adults with moderate-to-severe AD. ADDRESS-J was a prospective, longitudinal, observational study that evaluated real-world effectiveness and safety of current AD treatments of adult patients with moderate-to-severe AD (Investigator's Global Assessment score 3 or 4) in Japan. The maximum follow-up period was 2 years. Among 300 patients enrolled, 288 had ≥1 post-baseline evaluation and were analyzed (mean age, 35.5 years; 60.1% male). Almost all patients (99.7%) received topical therapy; the most commonly used therapy was topical corticosteroids of the second-highest potency (86.5%) (e.g., 0.1% mometasone furoate) followed by medium-potency topical corticosteroids (50.3%) (e.g., 0.05% clobetasol butyrate). At month 12 of the study, 10.4% of patients had Investigator's Global Assessment 0/1, similarly at month 24 (10.8%). A total of 132 patients (45.8%) had ≥1 AD flare-up during the observation period, with the majority of first flares occurring within the first year of the study. Various physician- and patient-reported outcomes improved considerably during the first 3 months of the study, with only minor changes after this time. In this cohort, 16.7% of patients had skin infections requiring treatment; 7.3% had adverse events (AE) potentially related to treatment; 1.7% had serious AE; and 1.0% had treatment discontinuations due to AE. Limitations include missing data at later timepoints and the inclusion criteria limiting generalizability. In summary, this analysis of the ADDRESS-J study showed that some patients with moderate or severe AD respond to conventional therapies, while others do not. For those with inadequately controlled moderate-to-severe AD, the newly emerged systemic agents, such as biologics, may provide a potential strategy for long-term disease management.