Association driven by common stressful life events such as starting new school, having new baby sibling<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter<\/b>
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WEDNESDAY, Feb. 5, 2025 (HealthDay News) — For children with atopic dermatitis (AD), early childhood stressful life events are associated with an increased risk for disease activity, according to a study published online Jan. 28 in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology<\/em>.<\/p>\n Katrina Abuabara, M.D., from the University of California in San Francisco, and colleagues conducted a longitudinal cohort study of 13,972 children ages 1 to 8.5 years from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children to examine the impact of stressful life events throughout early childhood on AD activity and severity.<\/p>\n The researchers found that for each standard deviation increase in stressful life events, there was a small increased risk for concurrent AD activity after adjusting for potential confounders (odds ratio, 1.04), which was higher for moderate-to-severe AD and for a cumulative measure of stressful events across childhood (odds ratios, 1.13 and 1.11, respectively). Common stressful life events such as starting a new school or having a new sibling drove the association more than severe adverse childhood events such as being separated from a parent or being abused.<\/p>\n “These results suggest that parents and providers may anticipate and proactively moisturize or treat to prevent potential AD flares around life events,” the authors write. “In addition, multiple stress-reducing modalities have been shown to improve AD symptoms and may be helpful for patients experiencing stressful life events.”<\/p>\n One author disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries.<\/p>\n