This was an open, prospective study of adult and paediatric patients with atopic eczema defined according to the U.K. Working Party's refinement of the Hanifin and Rajka diagnostic criteria, recruited from primary and secondary care.13 (link) The POEM was used to measure atopic eczema severity against two global anchor questions (GQ1 and GQ2) relating to disease severity (Fig. 2 ). GQ1 was used as the primary outcome measure. Approval for the study was given by the local Research and Development departments.
It was estimated that 1000 questionnaires would be needed to categorize accurately the POEM scores into five bands, based on the normal distribution of POEM scores, and previous studies used to categorize patient-based scores using this method.14 (link) In order to include patients from a diverse social and ethnic background, recruitment was carried out from two geographically distant U.K. dermatology outpatient departments (Royal Devon and Exeter Foundation Trust and Nottingham University Hospital NHS Trust) and six general practice surgeries in Devon, covering both urban and rural locations.
It was estimated that 1000 questionnaires would be needed to categorize accurately the POEM scores into five bands, based on the normal distribution of POEM scores, and previous studies used to categorize patient-based scores using this method.14 (link) In order to include patients from a diverse social and ethnic background, recruitment was carried out from two geographically distant U.K. dermatology outpatient departments (Royal Devon and Exeter Foundation Trust and Nottingham University Hospital NHS Trust) and six general practice surgeries in Devon, covering both urban and rural locations.
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