SHORT COMMUNICATION
1243
Agreement Between Self-reported Inflammatory Skin Disorders and Dermatologists’ Diagnosis: A
Cross-sectional Diagnostic Study
Céline PHAN 1 *, Khaled EZZEDINE 1,2 , Cindy LAI 1 , Laurence LE CLEACH 1,2 , Oliver COGREL 3 , Laurence FARDET 1,2 , Pierre
WOLKENSTEIN 1,2 , Olivier CHOSIDOW 1,2,4 , Marie BEYLOT BARRY 3 and Emilie SBIDIAN 1,2,4 *
Department of Dermatology, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Henri Mondor, 51 Avenue du Maréchal de Lattre de Tassigny, FR-94010 Créteil,
Université Paris Est (UPEC), DHU VIC, IRMB- EA 7379 EpidermE, Paris, 3 Department of Dermatology, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de
Bordeaux, Bordeaux, 4 Inserm, Centre d’Investigation Clinique 1430, Créteil, France. *E-mails: cel.phan@gmail.com; emilie.sbidian@aphp.fr
1
2
Accepted Jul 5, 2017; Epub ahead of print Jul 6, 2017
E-epidemiology is having a revolutionary impact on the
way we monitor global health outcomes and behaviour (1,
2). It presents many advantages, of which a reduction in
costs and administrative burden is an important part. Digital
data are frequently collected directly from individuals using
self-questionnaires. The quality of self-questionnaires in
assessing a diagnosis or collecting different data related to
a specific disease must be at least equivalent to informa-
tion collected more traditionally by public health agencies
(3–8). The aim of this paper was to study skin autoimmune/
autoinflammatory diseases that are frequent and have a
profound impact on quality of life (9–11). The standard for
diagnosis of these skin diseases is a physical examination
by a board-certified dermatologist. Thus, in the absence of
examination by a dermatologist, no reliable tool exists to
confirm the diagnosis of a skin disease. Thus, the objective
of this study was to identify patients who accurately report
their inflammatory skin disorders, especially hidradenitis
suppurativa (HS), psoriasis and vitiligo.
METHODS
The study was approved by the Ile-de-France IV (Paris, France)
ethics committee (IRB), number 2016/41NI.
Self-reported questionnaires for HS, psoriasis and vitiligo were
developed by a panel of 6 experts in dermatology and contained
10, 9 and 8 items, respectively. These questionnaires were based
on the model by Dominguez et al. (8) (Fig. S1 1 ), with 2 sections:
(i) a declarative section (Questions (Q) 1–4) that helps to iden-
tify whether the patient thinks he/she has the disease of interest,
and who diagnosed it (general practitioner, dermatologist, other
specialist physicians, the patient; these items were not exclusive);
and (ii) a section (Q 5 to 8–10, details provided in the Appendix
S1 1 for each skin disorders) offering a photographic panel of the
disease of interest and/or questions regarding the features of di-
sease in its most common phenotypes, and/or questions regarding
differential diagnosis. These questionnaires may therefore contain
redundant items, but they enable assessment to be carried out with
the optimum comprehe