Infants' Dermatitis Quality of Life Index

The Infants' Dermatitis Quality of Life Index (IDQOL) questionnaire is designed for use in infants with atopic dermatitis below the age of four years.

It is self-explanatory and should be completed by the child’s parent(s) or regular carer.

Who can use it

This questionnaire can be used in a range of settings by clinicians, pharmaceutical companies, for-profit organisations, students or researchers.

Depending on who you are and what you're using the questionnaire for, you may need to apply for a licence and pay a fee.

Learn more about who can use this questionnaire and how to administer it.

Time for completion

It can usually be completed within two minutes.

Recall period

The questions are designed to be completed with a one-week recall period.

Download the questionnaire

Different language versions

This zip file contains the questionnaires in different languages, along with the translation certificates. Find out more about our translation and linguistic validation process, and what to do if you'd like to create a new translation.

How to score it

The Infants' Dermatitis Quality of Life Index is calculated by summing the score of each question, resulting in a maximum of 30 and a minimum of 0. The higher the score, the more quality of life is impaired.

The severity of eczema is scored separately and can be correlated with the Infants' Dermatitis Quality of Life Index.

Dermatitis severity

This is scored separately from the Life Quality Index.

• Extremely severe = 4
• Severe = 3
• Average = 2
• Fairly good = 1
• None = 0

Life Quality Index

For questions 1 and 5 to 10, the scoring is:

• All the time = 3
• A lot = 2
• A little = 1
• None = 0

For question 2, the scoring is:

• Always crying, etc = 3
• Very fretful = 2
• Slightly fretful = 1
• Happy = 0

For question 3, the scoring is:

• More than two hours = 3
• 1-2 hours = 2
• 15 mins to 1 hour = 1
• 0-15 minutes = 0

For question 4, the scoring is:

• Five hours or more = 3
• 3-4 hours = 2
• 1-2 hours = 1
• Less than one hour = 0

Copyright

Please note that the Infants' Dermatitis Quality of Life Index is protected under copyright, so you must not change the format, wording or design of the questionnaire. The copyright statement for the Index, which must always be reproduced at the end of every copy, is:

© M.S. Lewis-Jones, A.Y. Finlay, Jan 2000.

By agreement, the University now owns and administers all copyright matters relating to the IDQOL.

Original publication

Lewis-Jones M S, Finlay A Y, Dykes P J. The Infants’ Dermatitis Quality of Life Index. Br J Dermatol 2001; 144: 104-10.

Other key publications

• Beattie P E, Lewis-Jones M S.  An audit of the impact of a consultation with a paediatric dermatology team on quality of life in infants with atopic eczema and their families: further validation of the Infants’ Dermatitis Quality of Life Index and Dermatitis Family Impact Score. Br J Dermatol 2006; 155: 1249-1255.
• Basra MK, Gada V, Ungaro S, Finlay AY, Salek SM. Infants’ Dermatitis Quality of Life Index: a decade of experience of validation and clinical application. Br J Dermatol. 2013; 169: 760-8.
• Thomas KS, Apfelbacher CA, Chalmers JR et al. Recommended core outcome instruments for health‐related quality of life, long‐term control and itch intensity in atopic eczema trials: results of the HOME VII consensus meeting. Br J Dermatol 2021.

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