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New Research - April 2010
Early life treatment with broad spectrum antibiotics and the incidence of atopic eczema
Summary
The German investigators carrying out this study employed a population-based administrative healthcare and prescription database. Using this database, they established a cohort of 370 children who did not have atopic eczema (AE) during their first year of life. For each child, they looked at all infections and prescriptions for antibiotics during the first year. They looked for a diagnosis of AE during the second year of life.
They found that the risk ratio of developing AE in the second year of life increased if respiratory tract infections were treated with broad spectrum antibiotics (e.g., macrolides or cephalosporins). The risk ratio for children not treated with antibiotics was 0.69 (CI 0.39 to 1.24) whereas the risk ratio for those treated with macrolides was 2.15 (CI 1.18 to 3.91), and for those treated with cephalosporins was 1.93 (CI 1.07 to 3.49).
They concluded that antibiotic treatment with broad spectrum antibiotics predisposed to the development of AE. They found no "protective" effect related to the incidence of infections in general during the first year of life.
Reference
Schmitt J, et al. Early exposure to antibiotics and infections, and the incidence of atopic eczema: a population-based cohort study. Pediatric Allergy and Immunology 2010; 21:292-300.
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