The Clinical Effects of Forest Camp on Children with Atopic Dermatitis

This study was conducted for evaluating the clinical and immunological effects of forest camps on children with atopic dermatitis. Twenty-six children with atopic dermatitis had participated in the forest camp and another 26 children with atopic dermatitis had enrolled for the city camp, respectively. Allergic skin prick tests, education programs for atopic dermatitis, physical activities and immunologic work-up were provided for participating patients during the camp activities. The severity of disease was estimated by measuring the SCORAD index for each child before and after the camp activity. We investigated the changes of clinical symptoms, anxiety status, knowledge about their diseases and blood immunologic markers, such as NK-cell, CD4+ T cell, CD8+ T cell, CD4+/CD8+ ratio before and after the camp activities in all participating children. The clinical symptoms significantly improved in the children with forest camp whereas not in the children with city camp. The knowledge about their diseases and the anxiety status tended to improve in both groups. The forest camp activities appeared to be valuable and helpful for improving their symptoms and knowledge about atopic dermatitis. But the immunological effects were not significantly 1) (Environmental Health Center, Korea University Anam Hospital) 2) (Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Korea University) 3) (Korea Forest Research Institute) * Corresponding author, E-mail: yoolina@korea.ac.kr 16 3 2012 (21~31)