Fritzsche MC, Buyx AM, Hangel N. Mapping ethical and social aspects of biomarker research and its application in atopic dermatitis and psoriasis - A systematic review of reason.
J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol 2022;
36:1201-1213. [PMID:
35366351 DOI:
10.1111/jdv.18128]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2021] [Accepted: 03/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Biomarker research is associated with high hopes for atopic dermatitis/psoriasis research. Although various effective treatments have been developed, many challenges remain concerning diagnostics and the development of targeted treatments, but also regarding a number of ethical and social issues. In this paper, building on a systematic literature review and review of reason, we examine the ethical and social debate on biomarker research for atopic dermatitis/psoriasis. We discuss topics such as risks and benefits of stratification of patient groups, ethical aspects of big data and advanced analytics for biomarker use in atopic dermatitis/psoriasis. Our systematic literature review of reason, based on established methodological standards, includes argument-based ethics publications and scientific literature with implicitly ethically relevant aspects. The first search of biomarker research in dermatology and adjacent fields (e.g., oncology) resulted in a large amount of literature concerning general normative aspects of biomarker research, but suggested a lack of explicit argument-based ethical literature in atopic dermatitis/psoriasis research. We therefore conducted a second systematic search, focusing specifically on atopic dermatitis/psoriasis biomarker research. The 43 relevant articles identified through both systematic searches were clustered into three topic groups: (1) ethical aspects of stratification and precision medicine, (2) digital ethics, and (3) research ethics with a focus on complexity and validation. We found that compared to other fields, such as cancer research, the ethical aspects of atopic dermatitis/psoriasis are rarely explained and addressed in detail. In particular, more work is required on scientific standards, digital ethics and responsible clinical application of biomarkers for atopic dermatitis/psoriasis, patient participation, and ethical implications of biomarker use for children or young people with atopic dermatitis/psoriasis. We close with suggestions on how to address the ethical and social dimension of atopic dermatitis/psoriasis research and practice more directly in future.
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