Physicians' concerns towards prescription adherence and treatment effectiveness in the clinical management of actinic keratosis

AIM: We report concerns toward prescription adherence and treatment effectiveness in the clinical management of actinic keratosis (AK) in Italy. METHODS: We carried out a cross-sectional web-based survey among Italian dermatologists across Italy. Physicians were asked to answer a self-administered questionnaire about their concerns around AK therapy and barriers to patients' adherence. Each physician also profiled his last patient and answered items concerning his experience with topical treatments and the suitability of current and future treatment options for the profiled patient. RESULTS: Fifty practitioners answered the survey. Most dermatologists agreed that field-therapy is a key element for the management of AK in most patients, and 76% (N.=38) agreed that topical treatments were the best option in such cases given their ability to target subclinical lesions. However most interviewee underlined the importance of fostering patients' adherence and minimizing side effects in order to maximize benefits from therapy. CONCLUSION: We showed that features of current therapeutic options for field-directed therapy (namely long duration of treatment, intensity and duration of local skin reaction) raise practitioners' concerns toward patients' prescription adherence and real-world effectiveness.