For infants at high risk for atopic dermatitis (AD), early initiation of daily specialized emollient use until 2 months lessens the incidence of AD in the first year of life, according to a study published in Allergy. Jonathan O’B Hourihane, PhD, and colleagues conducted a single-center, two-armed, investigator-blinded, randomized controlled clinical trial of infants (N=321) at high risk for AD (parental history, having asthma or allergic rhinitis) who were recruited within 4 days of birth and randomized to either standard routine skin care (control group) or twice-daily emollient application for the first 8weeks of life, using an emollient specifically formulated for very dry, AD-prone skin (intervention group). In the intervention group, the cumulative incidence of AD at 12 months was 32.8%, compared with 46.4% in the control group. There was no significant difference in the incidence of skin infections between the intervention and control groups during the study period (5.0% vs 5.7%).
