This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on Web of Science (10)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Related article  • Similar articles in this journal  Topic Collections  • Informatics/ Internet in Medicine  • Informatics, Other  • Dermatology  • Dermatologic Disorders  • Hypersensitivity  • Drug Therapy  • Adverse Effects  • Alert me on articles by topic  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Joseph M. Kist, MD; Rokea A. el-Azhary, MD; Joseph G. Hentz, MS; James A. Yiannias, MD

Arch Dermatol. 2004;140:1448-1450.

Objective  To determine whether the Contact Allergen Replacement Database would improve clinical outcomes for patients with allergic contact dermatitis associated with topical skin care products by helping patients avoid known allergens.

Design  This study was a randomized, single-blind, controlled trial.

Setting  The study was conducted at the outpatient facilities at Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, Ariz, and Rochester, Minn.

Participants  Of the 29 patients enrolled, 21 completed the study.

Intervention  All patients were randomly assigned to either a Contact Allergen Replacement Database group or a traditional therapy group. Patients in the database group received an individualized list of topical skin care products free of the antigens identified by the results of their individual patch tests. Otherwise, the 2 groups received identical therapy.

Main Outcome Measures  To evaluate erythema, scale, and pruritus at 3-month follow-up, each variable was given a severity score from 0 to 3. A 1-point change was considered clinically notable. We also evaluated total physician-patient counseling time and patient satisfaction.

Results  We found no statistically significant differences (P>.05) between the 2 treatment groups on measures of disease activity and counseling time. However, 91% of the database group reported the allergen-free product list to be either somewhat helpful or very helpful in managing contact dermatitis. All the patients without access to the database said it would have been helpful.

Conclusions  Although this small study, with its limited follow-up, did not yield objective evidence supporting the use of the Contact Allergen Replacement Database, the database-generated product lists were favorably received by patients. We anticipate an expanded clinical role for this database as an Internet-based resource.

Author Affiliations: Department of Dermatology (Drs Kist and Yiannias) and the Section of Biostatistics (Mr Hentz), Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, Ariz; and the Department of Dermatology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn (Dr el-Azhary).

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?

RELATED ARTICLE

Patch Testing: An Underutilized Modality
Andrew Scheman
Arch Dermatol. 2004;140(12):1529-1530.
EXTRACT | FULL TEXT  

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Patch Testing: An Underutilized Modality
Scheman
Arch Dermatol 2004;140:1529-1530.
FULL TEXT