The DOI matches its Crossref record; 1 of the 1 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Use of technology for the objective evaluation of scratching behavior: A systematic review
Open accessAbstract
Introduction Pruritus is a common symptom across various dermatologic conditions, with a negative impact on quality of life. Devices to quantify itch objectively primarily use scratch as a proxy. This review compares and evaluates the performance of technologies aimed at objectively measuring scratch behavior. Methods Articles identified from literature searches performed in October 2020 were reviewed and those that did not report a primary statistical performance measure (eg, sensitivity, specificity) were excluded. The articles were independently reviewed by 2 authors. Results The literature search resulted in 6231 articles, of which 24 met eligibility criteria. Studies were categorized by technology, with actigraphy being the most studied (n = 21). Wrist actigraphy's performance is poorer in pruritic patients and inherently limited in finger-dominant scratch detection. It has moderate correlations with objective measures (Eczema and Area Severity Index/Investigator's Global Assessment: r s (ρ) = 0.70-0.76), but correlations with subjective measures are poor (r 2 = 0.06, r s (ρ) = 0.18-0.40 for itch measured using a visual analog scale). This may be due to varied subjective perception of itch or actigraphy's underestimation of scratch. Conclusion Actigraphy's large variability in performance and limited understanding of its specificity for scratch merits larger studies looking at validation of data analysis algorithms and device performance, particularly within target patient populations.
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A meta-analysis evaluating the performance of image-based AI models for skin disease severity assessment has not been reported.
“Notably, a meta-analysis evaluating the performance of image-based AI models for skin disease severity assessment has not been reported.15,16”
From Assessing the performance of artificial intelligence models in evaluating inflammatory skin disease severity: a systematic review and meta-analysis (2025) · cites this paper as [16]
The Results section reviews technologies for detecting scratching, and the Discussion addresses performance of scratch-monitoring algorithms. Neither states whether a meta-analysis of image-based AI models for skin disease severity assessment has been reported; searches for that topic found no such passage in our copy. Page numbers were not available. (LLM, conf=0.76)
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Sorted by citations
Cai, Z. R., Kim, J., Rezaei, S. J., Chen, M. L., Touma, F., Zhu, C., Onyeka, S., Fonjungo, F., Omiye, J. A., Krakowski, I., et al. (2025) · British Journal of Dermatology · doi:10.1093/bjd/ljaf250 · Cited by 8
Metadata
- Authors
- Yang, A. F., Nguyen, M., Li, A. W., Lee, B., Chun, K. S., Wu, E., Fishbein, A. B., Paller, A. S., & Xu, S.
- Affiliations
- Northwestern University (US)
- The University of Texas at Austin (US)
- Lurie Children's Hospital (US)
- Corresponding author
- Xu, Shuai
- Venue
- JAAD International
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2021-12
- Volume
- 5
- Pages
- 19-32
- ISSN
- 2666-3287 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC8593746
- OpenAlex
- W3195751850
- Cited by
- 22
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 2
- FWCI
- 0.49
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- JAAD International (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Food and Drug Administration
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Dermatology › Dermatology and Skin Diseases
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition › Context-Aware Activity Recognition Systems
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Dermatology › Contact Dermatitis and Allergies
- Keywords
- pruritus, scratching behavior, actigraphy, wrist actigraphy, Investigator's Global Assessment, visual analogue scale, device validation, data analysis algorithms
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