Chronic Prurigo: Similar Clinical Profile and Burden Across Clinical Phenotypes

Chronic prurigo is a debilitating skin disease characterized by the presence of chronic pruritus and scratching-related pruriginous lesions. The pruriginous lesions can differ in their clinics what has recently been categorized into different clinical phenotypes. The most common one is chronic nodular prurigo (syn. prurigo nodularis); other phenotypes are papular, plaque, umbilicated, and linear prurigo. A comparison between these phenotypes regarding similarities and differences has not yet been performed. In this explorative analysis, itch characteristics, scratching behavior, and disease burden of the nodular, papular, plaque, and umbilicated prurigo were investigated in 1,128 patients. Patients with nodular and plaque prurigo were younger than patients with papular and umbilicated prurigo. The shortest duration of the underlying pruritus was found in papular and umbilicated prurigo, the longest in plaque prurigo. Itch intensity, impairment of sleep, mood and the quality of life did not differ. These findings confirm that the clinical phenotypes of chronic prurigo belong to a spectrum of one disease with similar disease characteristics and can be categorized under the umbrella term of chronic prurigo. Future clinical trials should include all phenotypes of chronic prurigo.

When life is an itch: What harms, helps, and heals from the patients' perspective? Differences and similarities among skin diseases

Itch is the commonest skin-related symptom, associated with a high psychosocial and economic burden. While the main focus of itch research lies on a few chronic skin diseases, only little is known about the perception of itch, itch-aggravating/-relieving factors and treatment preferences in patients with acute and chronic itch of various etiology. In this cross-sectional study, we assessed these aspects in 126 patients (mean age 61.7 ± 18.4 years, 67 females, median itch duration 3.9 years) using a 78-item questionnaire. The diseases were categorized into 11 diagnostic groups for descriptive analysis; the three most frequent groups ("atopic dermatitis," "nonatopic eczema," "inflammatory dermatoses") were statistically compared. Itch was most often perceived as localized 42.9%, burning (40.5%), and worrying (39.7%) with worsening in the evening (49.2%), due to warmth (42.1%) and sweating (26.2%). While itch perception, itch-aggravating factors and treatment preferences differed broadly among patients, the itch-relieving personal strategies were more uniform ("scratching by hand 70.6%, applying topicals 57.9%). Also, 69.8% of patients suffered from itch-related sleep disturbance, consequently affecting their relatives in 30.0%. Subgroup comparisons revealed significant differences regarding itch-aggravating factors (P = .0012) and itch duration (P = .0082). Patients rated the antipruritic effectiveness of phototherapy, "complementary and alternative medicine" and "other tablets" as high, but oral antihistamines, "cortisone tablets" and any topical as only moderately efficacious. The preferred administration of an ideal itch treatment was "creams/ointments" (51.6%) or "tablets" (35.7%), only few patients preferred "injections" or "patches." Consideration of such differences and similarities in itch characteristics and treatment preferences could help to better tailor treatment in itch patients.