Validation of the Diagnostic Criteria for Atopic Dermatitis

Objective To validate the accuracy of newly proposed diagnostic criteria for atopic dermatitis (AD). Design Double-blind, cross-sectional study comparing the achievement of new criteria with the diagnosis of a dermatologist. Setting A private, general dermatology, outpatient clinic. Patients A sample of 416 consecutive patients attending the clinic within 2 months (146 males and 270 females), consisting of 60 patients with AD and 356 control patients with other skin diseases. Main Outcome Measures Sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of proposed criteria in the diagnosis of AD. Results Sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of proposed diagnostic criteria for AD were 10.0% (95% confidence interval [CI], 4.1%-21.2%), 98.3% (95% CI, 96.2%-99.3%), 50.0% (95% CI, 22.3%-77.7%), and 86.6% (95% CI, 82.8%-89.7%), respectively. Conclusions These diagnostic criteria for AD are highly specific and are suitable for clinical trials. However, they may not achieve enough sensitivity to be useful for large, population-based epidemiological studies or for routine clinical practice, at least in Iran.