Adam Friedman, MD: Addressing Disparities in Care for Patients with Atopic Dermatitis

During this HCPLive interview, Adam Friedman, MD, spoke on concerns about disparities between different groups with atopic dermatitis and the ways in which he hopes to address them.

Friedman’s discussion was the result of his presentation from the Revolutionizing Atopic Dermatitis (RAD) 2023 Annual Meeting in Washington, DC., during which he presented on “Using teledermatology to reduce disparities in atopic dermatitis care.”

He is known for his work as Professor and Chair of Dermatology in the Department of Dermatology at the George Washington University School of Medicine & Health Sciences.

“I think there's certainly more global disparities,” he explained. “And there are a lot of different reasons for them. I think that they range from when we say access, that can mean a lot of things. It can mean having a physician or a specialist in your area that you can physically access or even if you do, can you even get into see that person because they're so overwhelmed with patients, does it mean that you can physically get there, (or) whether you have the means to get to a visit?”

He added that there are disparities between different populations, noting that there are many different subgroups and variables.

“But we do see with atopic dermatitis, for example, those who identify as black depending on certain studies or African American—often those terms are put side by side and they're not the same, but that's what we see—that there is a higher prevalence of disease, more severe disease,” he said. “But those individuals make up a very small subset of those who are actually being seen by dermatologists.

Friedman added that dermatologists know that socioeconomic status is an independent risk factor for more severe and uncontrolled diseases.

“So I think there's a lot more to learn and I think the way we solicit information will ultimately lend itself to better understanding the needs of specific communities and populations,” he explained. “But certainly from the information we have, there are those who seem to be at higher risk for all the horrific primary and secondary things that atopic dermatitis can cause and lead to down the road.”

For more information about Friedman’s presentation, view the full interview segment above.