Severity Assessment and Outcome Measures in Acne Vulgaris

In 2002, a comprehensive methodological review of the acne literature over 50 years revealed great variation in severity assessment and outcome measures. The authors suggested a number of possible methodological improvements, since such variation makes comparisons across the literature difficult and hampers the development of evidence-based medicine in the field. To investigate whether any improvement has been achieved, we evaluated the recent literature on topical and systemic therapeutic interventions. In 18 papers, published in 2011, we identified 25 ways of reporting changes in lesion counts and 25 ways of reporting changes in assessed grade. Fourteen grading systems were used to evaluate the therapeutic response. Only three studies reported data on quality of life. Our finding reveals a continued and substantial variation in severity assessment and outcome measurement in the acne literature.