Cross-sectional survey on disease severity in Japanese patients with harlequin ichthyosis/ichthyosis: Syndromic forms and quality-of-life analysis in a subgroup

Background: Congenital ichthyoses (CIs) adversely affect quality of life (QOL) in patients. However, the effects of CIs on patient QOL have not been studied sufficiently. Objective: To investigate the association between disease severity and QOL in patients with harlequin ichthyosis (HI) and ichthyosis: syndromic forms (ISFs) Methods: Clinical information of patients with HI and ISFs from 2010 to 2015 were obtained from 100 dermatology departments/divisions of principal institutes/hospitals throughout Japan. We examined the relationship between disease severity and QOL in patients with HI and ISFs. Patients who were aged 8 years or older and participated in a multicenter retrospective questionnaire survey in Japan were assessed by dermatology life quality index (DLQI, range of 0–30) and clinical ichthyosis score (range of 0–100). Results: Netherton syndrome patients had a significantly higher risk of allergy to food or environmental allergens than patients with other phenotypes. Keratitis-ichthyosis-deafness (KID) syndrome patients showed a significantly higher risk of skin infections than patients with other phenotypes. Complete data on DLQI were obtained from 13 patients, whose median age was 21 (8–71) years. Nine patients were male, and 4 were female. Systemic retinoids were administrated to 2 of the 3 HI patients. The Spearman's correlation coefficient between the clinical ichthyosis score and DLQI was 0.611 (P < 0.05). Conclusion: We confirmed that Netherton syndrome and KID syndrome patients have a higher risk of allergy to food or environmental allergens and of skin infections, respectively. QOL impairment correlates with disease severity in HI and ISFs patients.