Antibiotics may increase eczema risk in children, study reveals

They found that children with eczema are more likely to have been treated with antibiotics in the first year of life, but not prenatally.

“One potential explanation is that broad-spectrum antibiotics alter the gut microflora and that this in turn affects the maturing immune system in a way that promotes allergic disease development,” said one of the study authors Dr Teresa Tsakok of Guy’s and St Thomas.’

Dr Tricia McKeever, Associate Professor & Reader in Epidemiology and Medical Statistics at The University of Nottingham said: “The study is a systematic review and meta-analyses which brings together all available evidence, and has shown that overall, children who used antibiotics post-natally were at a 41 per cent increased risk of eczema and each additional dose of antibiotics increased the risk of eczema by seven per cent.”

Nina Goad of the British Association of Dermatologists said: “Eczema is our most common skin disease, affecting one in every five children in the UK at some stage and causing a significant burden to the patient and the health service. Allergic diseases including eczema have increased over past decades, particularly for children in high income countries, but the causes for this are not fully understood. The evidence is not conclusive and the researchers are not suggesting that parents should withhold antibiotics from children when doctors feel such treatment is necessary, but studies like this give an insight into possible avoidable causes and may help to guide medical practice.”

The researchers added a note of caution to their findings, explaining that use of antibiotics may in fact be a consequence of an increased occurrence of infections in children with eczema. Further research is needed that carefully examines the sequence of events between the age antibiotics are prescribed and the onset of eczema development.

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More information is available from Nina Goad or Deborah Mason, British Association of Dermatologists on +44 (0)207 391 6094/6355, comms@bad.org.uk, www.bad.org.uk; or Charlotte Anscombe, Media Relations Manager & Campaign Manager, Marketing, Communications & Recruitment, University of Nottingham on +44 (0)115 748 4417, charlotte.anscombe@nottngham.ac.uk

To speak to Dr Carsten Flohr, please call the British Association of Dermatologists on +44 (0)207 391 6355 / 6094 or Guy’s and St Thomas’ press office on +44 (0)207 188 5577. To speak to Dr Teresa Tsakok, please call the British Association of Dermatologists.

The British Association of Dermatologists is the central association of practising UK dermatologists. Our aim is to continually improve the treatment and understanding of skin disease. For further information about the charity, visit www.bad.org.uk . Wiley-Blackwell, created in February 2007 by merging Blackwell Publishing with Wiley's Global Scientific, Technical, and Medical business, is now one of the world's foremost academic and professional publishers and the largest society publisher. With a combined list of more than 1,400 scholarly peer-reviewed journals and an extensive collection of books with global appeal, this new business sets the standard for publishing in the life and physical sciences, medicine and allied health, engineering, humanities and social sciences. For more information visit www.wiley.com

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