Comparison of severity scoring of atopic dermatitis values and serum levels of eosinophil cationic protein and mast cell tryptase for routine evaluation of atopic dermatitis

In this study the routine use of different parameters for evaluation of the overall therapeutic outcome in atopic dermatitis was investigated. The disease activity of 117 randomly selected hospitalized patients suffering from atopic dermatitis was routinely assessed using the Severity Scoring of Atopic Dermatitis (SCORAD) index on admission and at discharge. Serum levels of eosinophil cationic protein and mast cell tryptase were determined in parallel both on admission and at discharge. After a mean treatment period of 24+/-12 days a decrease in the SCORAD index from 47.6+/-19.5 to 7.7+/-8.2 was achieved (p<0.001). Serum levels of eosinophil cationic protein decreased from 22.8+/-19.7 mu g/l to 15.4+/-17.5 mu g/l, whereas serum tryptase levels did not change. However, there was no significant correlation between the changes in SCORAD, eosinophil cationic protein and tryptase in our cohort. Thus, routine determination of serum eosinophil cationic protein or tryptase levels, in addition to evaluation of disease activity using the SCORAD index, is not recommended in unselected patients with atopic dermatitis.