Complementary and Alternative Medicine among Children with Atopic Dermatitis

RATIONALE: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common chronic skin disease. Although applying topical corticosteroids and calcineurin inhibitor has been established as standard treatment for AD, complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is still commonly used because patients with AD are concerned about standard therapies. Our aim of the study was to examine the clinical feature of the patients experienced the treatment with CAM.

METHODS: This study is a retrospective chart survey of AD patients who visited the outpatient allergy clinic of NCCHD between April 2015 and October 2015 for the first time. The patients’ information was obtained from the questionnaires answered by their caregivers and the electronic data in the medical records. For statistical analysis, the differences in patient characteristics between patients treating with CAM and those without CAM were tested using the chi-square test and Mann-Whitney test for category variables and continuous variables, respectively.

RESULTS: Out of 114 patients who visited the outpatients unit to consult their AD for the first time, 21 patients(18.4%) had a CAM history. The contents of CAM were probiotics(n=10), chinese herbal medicine(n=7), balneotherapy(n=4), n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid(n=2), vitamin supplements(n=2), herbal treatment(n=2), acupuncture(n=1), and moxibustion therapy(n=1). The patients treating with CAM significantly showed higher TARC (median: 2317 vs. 1681.5, p=0.02), worse QPCAD (41.4 vs. 33.5, p=0.01), and higher prevalence of topical corticosteroids discontinuation (76.2% vs. 44.1%, p=0.01) than those without CAM.

CONCLUSIONS: This study revealed that CAM usage for treatment of AD was associated with severe AD, low caregiver’s QOL and caregiver’s steroid phobia.