https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5693-8194
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Elizaveta Gribaleva, Kaitlyn Chan, Carlos Chivardi, David Prieto-Merino, Man Fung Tsoi, Rebecca Carroll, Bolaji Coker, Lilia De la Cruz, Manisha Baden, Paula E Beattie, Sara Brown, Tim Burton, Ross Hearn, John R Ingram, Alan D Irvine, Graham A Johnston, Irene Man, Graham Ogg, Mandy Wan, Richard B Warren, Richard T Woolf, Nick J Reynolds, Andrea Manca, Michael R Ardern-Jones, Carsten Flohr, the A-STAR Register Study Group , The UK-Irish Atopic eczema Systemic TherApy Register (A-STAR): baseline characteristics of the cohort, British Journal of Dermatology, Volume 192, Issue 5, May 2025, Pages 927–930, https://doi.org/10.1093/bjd/ljaf039
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Atopic eczema (AE) is a common chronic inflammatory cutaneous disease with a prevalence of up to 20% in paediatric populations1 and 10% in adult populations.2 The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommendations and the European guidelines for the management of AE in children and adults, respectively, recommend a stepped care approach when prescribing AE treatments.3,4 Milder cases of AE are usually managed with topical anti-inflammatory agents and phototherapy, while systemic immunomodulatory agents are recommended for achieving control of AE where other treatment modalities have failed.5
In recent years, real-world studies have become an increasingly important source of data from which to derive evidence on treatment outcomes in routine clinical care, complementing randomized controlled trial data. The UK-Irish Atopic eczema Systemic TherApy Register (A-STAR) was established in 2018. A-STAR is a prospective, longitudinal study focused on short- and long-term treatment effectiveness, safety and cost-effectiveness of systemic treatments. A-STAR has expanded to over 50 sites around the UK and four sites in Ireland, with paediatric and adult patients on 11 systemic agents recruited. All adult and paediatric patients either starting or switching to another systemic treatment for their AE are eligible to take part. The schedule of events recommends following patients up at week 4 (± 2 weeks) and every 3 months (± 4 weeks) in the first year on treatment, and every 6 months thereafter alongside standard of care dermatology appointments. A-STAR is aligned with the international TREatment of ATopic eczema Registry Taskforce (TREAT) core dataset6 and includes information on demographics, comorbidities, prior topical and systemic therapies, effectiveness and safety outcomes, health resource utilization, as well as AE clinical phenotypes (for further information on the study protocol, clinical reporting forms and centres involved, see: https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/A-STAR_files/27110530).
