Abstract
Atopic dermatitis (AD) is developed in variety of ages from new born to over 70 year of age, and goes into remission in a high proportion of cases during childhood, and recurs later in some cases. Therefore it is very difficult to evaluate precise prognosis of AD. In this paper, prognosis of AD is summarized based on many reports of prevalence of atopic dermatitis and long-term follow-up studies. Prevalence of AD is highest at age of 1 year, and more than half of them go into remission at age of 18 months. Prevalence of AD increases at age of three, and reduces until age of 18 years adding 3-5% per year of new AD patients. Prevalence of AD may increase around age of 20 years. Follow-up study revealed that 60% of patients with AD at 20 years of age or more still have dermatitis 24 year later. More than 10% of adult patients with AD have had severe symptom for long term. Poor prognostic factors are as follows: early development of AD, severe symptoms, coexisting with asthma or wheezing, high titer of IgE against multi-allergens, dermatitis on the face and neck in adult patients with AD.Skin Research, Suppl. 21:11-14, 2014
