THE BURDEN OF ATOPIC DERMATITIS IN ADULTS AND ADOLESCENTS
Baher Elezbawy
Gyógyszertudományok és Egészségügyi Technológiák Tagozat
Dr. Zelkó Romána
SE Semmelweis Szalon
2026-02-10 14:00:00
Az egészségügyi technológiaértékelés
Dr. Kaló Zoltán
Dr. Ágh Tamás
Dr. Babarczy Balázs
Dr. Rózsa Péter
Dr. Zelkó Romána
Dr. Mészáros Ágnes
Dr. Varga Orsolya
AD is a chronic inflammatory skin disease that significantly affects adolescents and adults. Given the high prevalence of AD and its non-fatal nature, it is usually deprioritized among disease areas for resource allocation.
This research, however, shows that AD’s impact is substantial in adults and adolescents. This is primarily attributable to hidden burden components, such as productivity loss and reduced QoL. Additionally, AD also imposes an economic burden on healthcare systems and societies.
We aimed to comprehensively assess the burden of AD in adults and adolescents. A systematic literature review was conducted to evaluate the global clinical, economic, and humanistic burdens of AD. The findings provided insights about QoL loss, disability-adjusted life years, and economic burden. Based on this, region-specific studies were conducted to quantify AD’s burden in the MEA region, and in CEE. These studies showed the significant effects of indirect costs and the huge societal burden due to lost productivity and reduced QoL.
Humanistic burden is a major contributor to the total AD burden in Middle East-Africa, and CEE countries, reaching up to several multiples of the value of the economic burden. Indirect costs are also much higher than direct medical costs of the disease, reaching up to 70% of the total economic burden in countries like Saudi Arabia, South Africa, and Lebanon.
In addition to burden of disease quantification, this research proposed actions to reduce AD’s burden. We identified potential policy interventions through a literature search, complemented by an expert panel. Experts recommended that these interventions should be tailored to each country, based on its challenges and healthcare system structure.
The findings of our studies help to inform decisionmakers on the actual disease burden, emphasizing the major contribution of the hidden burden to the total burden. Interventions should be taken to mitigate this burden through allocating the available resources effectively toward reducing AD’s societal and economic impacts.
