Patient-reported Symptoms
The core outcome instruments for patient-reported symptoms are:
- The Patient-oriented Eczema Measure (POEM)
- Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) 11 point for worst itch over the last 24 hours
POEM
Details of the POEM, including how to use the instrument and interpretability, can be found here.
Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) for itch intensity
At the HOME VII meeting in Tokyo, the instrument for measuring intensity of itch was recommended as the Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) 11 point for worst itch over the last 24 hours (Yosipovitch 2019). This recommendation was based on an updated systematic review of measurement properties of patient-reported outcome measures for pruritus (Topp 2021; at the time of the HOME VII meeting this publication was in preparation).
All available validation data was in adults but HOME suggests using the instrument for anyone who can self-report. Further validation data on this instrument in younger people is required. Itch intensity measured in this way is not likely to be appropriate as a proxy measure.
The instrument can be found on the MAPI Research Trust website: PP-NRS - Peak Pruritus Numerical Rating Scale