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Atopic dermatitis (AD) can appear in adulthood but is a common condition in children, often developing before their first birthday.
AD can be a harrowing condition for children, bringing dry, scaly skin, redness, bumps, crusty areas, severe itching and more. There is a good chance they will suffer from comorbidities, such as asthma, or allergies.
Diagnosis and treatment have evolved, along with understanding how to reduce flare ups but there is no cure as such. The disease does however often lessen in severity, or go altogether as children grow older.
They will still have lived with difficult issues. Bringing two 2023 UK research projects to consider outcomes on life, education and cognitive ability.
Wider Effects
The first study looked at children of all age groups and included data from four continents. Apart from a few anomalies, the patterns of disease severity and effects of AD were quite similar for each region.
Itchiness, loss of sleep, pain and general impairment of life existed in all cases, although the seriousness of those issues directly tracked the severity of disease. The same applied to the range of time lost from school.
Those with mild AD lost an average of 4.4 days per 24 days, 8.3 days for moderate severity and 13.7 days for children with severe AD, more than half their school time. In cases where the disease had not remitted, the amounts of time lost changed little with age.
A Doubtful Link
There have been suggestions that atopic dermatitis can directly affect cognitive function but this is unproven. Recent research used data from a long term study of almost 15,000 children in the UK, over the first 16 years of their life.
Surveys on AD status were part of this, as were general cognition tests. Both carried out every few years, giving a sound base to look at the cognitive effect of AD.
There were moderately lower scores in standard and verbal IQ for children with AD but with time away from school and their peer group, this was expected. We have seen similar outcomes for children of varied health who missed school during the pandemic.
The researchers concluded that they did not find any meaningful link between AD onset, or severity and reduced cognitive function in childhood.
The Real Outcome
In depth research showing the lack of a medical link between AD and cognitive ability is welcome. Both sets of researchers did however confirm the real world effects that AD can have on children of all ages.
They also highlighted the fact that many suffer from other issues, such as hay fever, or allergic rhinitis. Adding to the burden of the core disease, which brings educational loss and isolation, with significant downsides.
Protecting the physical and mental health of children with AD is vital and the most effective way to do so is through individual understanding and treatment. To minimise flare ups, or severity and the outcomes of those.
The lack of a cure for AD and the constant care this requires can understandably produce resistance to further diagnosis, or treatment. This is still the best way to protect the future of children who are affected by AD.
As with all paediatric dermatology, good care should include assessing the impact of AD on each child’s daily life. Treatment needs to be tailored to them, to bring the best outcome for their life.