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Use of an Emollient As a Steroid‐Sparing Agent in the Treatment of Mild to Moderate Atopic Dermatitis in Children
Author(s) -
Lucky Anne W.,
Leach Alan D.,
Laskarzewski Peter,
Wenck Horst
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
pediatric dermatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.542
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1525-1470
pISSN - 0736-8046
DOI - 10.1111/j.1525-1470.1997.tb00968.x
Subject(s) - medicine , atopic dermatitis , topical steroid , dermatology
The effectiveness of an emollient as an adjunct to topical corticosteroid therapy for the treatment of mild to moderate atopic dermatitis was studied for 3 weeks in 25 children 3 to 15 years of age in comparison with corticosteroid therapy alone. The adjunctive regimen of a once‐daily application each of hydrocortisone 2.5% cream and of a water‐in‐oil cream was equivalent in efficacy to the comparative regimen of twice‐daily applications of hydrocortisone 2.5% cream. Both treatment regimens elicited significant improvement in skin condition by day 7 (p < 0.005) and further significant improvement by day 14 (p < 0.005). No significant differences between the two treatment regimens were observed in the rates of improvement (p > 0.545) or in the reductions in mean lesion size (p > 0.9B). No differences were observed in parental evaluations, except for ease of application where a slight preference was expressed for the hydrocortisone 2.5% cream preparation (p < 0.038). We conclude that emollient adjunct i ve therapy offers a steroid‐sparing alternative to topical corticosteroids alone in the treatment of mild to moderate atopic dermatitis.