SynthesisActa dermato-venereologica2026
Effects of Psychological Interventions on Itch, Scratching, and Excoriations: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.
Synthesis in Acta dermato-venereologica, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- [Pruritus and stress: psychoneuroimmunological mechanisms, assessment of psychosocial stress, and therapeutic implications].Dermatologie (Heidelberg, Germany) · 2026Review
- Real-World Effectiveness and Safety of Upadacitinib Versus Abrocitinib in Moderate-to-Severe Atopic Dermatitis: A Retrospective Cohort Study.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- The Skin-Brain-Exposome Axis in Stress-Sensitive Dermatoses: A Narrative Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Review
- Breaking the vicious cycle: a bibliometric and visual analysis of the bidirectional relationship between pruritus and negative emotions.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Psychological interventions reduce itch in patients with skin diseases. However, previous systematic reviews and meta-analyses did not include patients with non-skin-related chronic itch and did not consider excoriations as outcome. This study therefore summarized randomized controlled trials investigating effects of psychological interventions on itch, scratching, and excoriations in patients with chronic itch due to all causes. A systematic literature search was conducted. A random effects model was used to aggregate between-group effect sizes. It was found that 17 of the 20 trials included patients with atopic dermatitis. Small to large post-treatment and follow-up effects were observed on self-rated itch intensity (post-treatment: k = 12, g = -0.37 [-0.60; -0.15]; follow-up: k = 6; g = -0.59 [-0.97; -0.21]), externally rated excoriations (post-treatment: k = 6, g = -0.29 [-0.49; -0.09]; follow-up: k = 6; g = -0.34 [-0.53; -0.15]), and self-rated scratching intensity (post-treatment: k = 2, g = -0.99 [-1.35; -0.63]; follow-up: k = 2; g = -0.85 [-1.22; -0.48]). Small post-treatment effects were observed on self-rated itch frequency (k = 3, g = -0.22 [-0.40; -0.04]). Thus, psychological interventions show promise in reducing not only itch and scratching, but also excoriations, with effects lasting up to 1 year.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.