Illness representations and coping predict the severity of atopic dermatitis: a 1-year follow-up

Abstract

Background: Illness representations and coping have been associated with disease-related impairment in patients suffering from different chronic diseases like COPD, tinnitus, psoriasis or atopic dermatitis (AD). However, this study is the first investigating whether illness representations and coping at the end of a rehabilitation clinic visit (T1) predict the severity of the disease 1 year later (T2) in AD-patients. Methods: 109 AD-patients filled in validated questionnaires to measure illness representations and coping at T1. At T2, all patients were asked to evaluate the severity of AD by means of the PO-SCORAD (response rate 55%). Findings: 18.4% of the AD-severity at T2 was explained by illness representations and coping (p = 0.003): The belief that the disease was caused by chance, that it will have a bad course as well as depressed reactions were positively associated with the disease severity at T2. Discussion: This study indicates that illness representations and coping predict the severity of AD one year later. Future research should investigate the effects of cognitive restructuring on skin status in AD-patients.