Abstract
Background Atopic dermatitis or eczema is one of the most common dermatologic problems, especially in children. Several studies have hypothesized that alteration of gut-colonizing microbes might have induced and conditioned the development of the disease. Thus, modulation of microbial diversity and abundance might help alleviate symptoms and conditions for patients. Given the ability of commensal and symbiotic microorganisms in modulating the immune system, probiotics administration has been studied in previous research in the management of eczema. However, until today, there are conflicting results between studies making inconclusive recommendations towards probiotics supplementation in the management of atopic dermatitis. This case-based review was done to assess and evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of probiotics supplementation in the management of eczema in children. Method An electronic database search was conducted in PubMed-NCBI, Cochrane, EBSCO, ProQuest, and SCOPUS in March 2020. Individual studies and reviews were then gathered for screening using predetermined inclusion and exclusion criteria. The included studies were then critically appraised for their validity and importance. Result A total of 5 studies, all of which were RCTs, were included in this review. Out of all the studies included, 4 showed no clinically significant improvements in using probiotics in the management of eczema in children as they did not pass the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) of eczema severity as determined by SCORAD (SCORing Atopic Dermatitis). Conclusion Supplementation of probiotics in the management of eczema in children does not show a clinically relevant difference vs. standard treatment in reducing eczema severity.
Highlights
A 27-year-old mother with her 7-year-old daughter came to a general practitioner (GP) with a chief complaint of itching on her daughter’s face
She appeared to have rashes on her cheeks, forehead, and scalp, which had been apparent starting two weeks ago. e rashes spread to her knees, elbows, and trunks, causing the daughter to lose sleep and hindering her day-to-day activities. e GP diagnosed her with atopic dermatitis and planned to prescribe her a topical corticosteroid. e mother mentioned that she was diagnosed with atopic dermatitis since she was little
Since gender does not imply atopic dermatitis’ pathogenesis—and we judged gender to be of no clinical importance—the baseline sociodemographic characteristics of probiotic and placebo groups were considered to be similar in both the trials
Summary
A 27-year-old mother with her 7-year-old daughter came to a general practitioner (GP) with a chief complaint of itching on her daughter’s face. Several severe exacerbations had occurred and caused her to consume oral corticosteroids After she did some research on the Internet, she heard that using corticosteroids for a long time would bring detrimental health effects. She was worried that her daughter might have to consume oral corticosteroids for a long time She asked the GP whether there would be any additional or alternative treatments with minimum side effects that would help alleviate her daughter’s symptoms without solely relying on corticosteroids. Until today, there are conflicting results between studies making inconclusive recommendations towards probiotics supplementation in the management of atopic dermatitis. Out of all the studies included, 4 showed no clinically significant improvements in using probiotics in the management of eczema in children as they did not pass the minimal clinically important difference (MCID) of eczema severity as determined by SCORAD (SCORing Atopic Dermatitis). Supplementation of probiotics in the management of eczema in children does not show a clinically relevant difference vs. standard treatment in reducing eczema severity
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