Eczema, caused by atopic dermatitis or any type of allergy, is the most common skin problem in childhood. It has suffered a notable increase in recent decades among the youngest, as have asthma and allergic rhinitis.
A European study conducted with more than 20,000 children has found that the coexistence of eczema, allergic rhinitis and asthma in the same child is much more frequent than previously thought. They have found that Eczema in children multiplies the risk of asthma and allergic rhinitis by four.
They discovered that 20 percent of children have at least one of these diseases and 4 percent have two or three, so they propose that they be treated with an integrated approach, in order to improve the quality of life of the children who suffer them.
According to the research, published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, children with two or three allergic diseases at age 4 have a predisposition of between 30 and 60 times higher of having two or three of these diseases at 8 years old. Even children with only one of these diseases at age 4 have a predisposition of 4 to 7 times greater of having two or three of these diseases at 8 years old.
They could verify that about 4 percent of children between 4 and 8 years old have two or three diseases although in 50 percent this coexistence is due to chance. However, although the presence of two or three diseases is more common in children sensitized to the allergens studied, it was also present in those who are not.
What we can conclude from the study is that the three pathologies (eczema, asthma and rhinitis) are strongly related to each otherThey therefore propose that it be treated as an integral problem and pay more attention to children who have at least two of them.
