Trends in eczema
England has one of the world’s largest computer health databases containing the records of over nine million patients, and a group of Community Health scientists have been putting it to good use.
They decided to trawl through it and see what is happening to eczema. How often do doctors see it? Is it getting more common? How many prescriptions are issued for it? Investigating these trends helps to give us a more complete picture of the disease and the more knowledge we have, the better able we are to solve the problem.
They have published their study in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine* and it makes interesting reading. They set about identifying all the patients with a recorded diagnosis of eczema between the years 2001 and 2005 and started analysing each record armed with a calculator.
First they calculated the incidence of eczema. This means the number of new patients with eczema being diagnosed in any one year. The figures are dramatic – they found that 9.58 new cases per 1000 patients were diagnosed in 2001 and this figure had risen to 13.58 per 1000 patients by 2005.
Next they calculated the prevalence of the disease. This means the total number of people with eczema ever recorded on the database. The result was that just over five and three quarter million people were estimated to be suffering from eczema in 2005 in England. On average, these patients consulted a GP 4.02 times a year, and the number of eczema-related prescriptions increased by 56.6% over the five year study period. In 2005 over thirteen and a half million prescriptions were written for the treatment of eczema. The authors comment that the figures show that almost 1 in 9 of the population of England has experienced eczema at some point in their lives which makes it the number one most common chronic condition of all.
The big question, of course, is why is the incidence of eczema seemingly shooting up like this? Is this a genuine increase or some statistical anomaly? With regard to the latter question it is conceded that improved awareness, diagnosis and record keeping has probably contributed to the increase in numbers but there is no doubt that the incidence of eczema is genuinely increasing at a significant rate. Why? Theories abound but in truth no one really knows.
*Simpson CR, Newton J, Hippisley-Cox J, Sheikh A
Trends in the epidemiology and prsecribing of medication for eczema in England J R Soc Med 2009;102:109-117
Article written and supplied by Dr Rupert Mason and adapted from an origianl press release written and supplied by Carmel Turner, Media Manager Royal Society of Medicine.
Last Reviewed: 9 April 2010
Next Review Date: 9 April 2012
