Behavioral characteristics in 3- to 12-month-old infant with atopic dermatitis: a case-control study

There have been reports that refer to the personality of the patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) especially adult patients but there are few studies regarding the behavioral characteristics in AD infants. The aim of this study was to compare behavioral characteristics of 30 AD infants (3-12 months old) with 40 controls. The infants with the definite diagnosis of AD (according to Hanifin and Rajka criteria) referring to children medical center were included in this study. For assessing behavioral characteristics we used revised version of Infant Behavior Questionnaire for measuring 11 scales of behavioral characteristics (Fear, Perceptual Sensitivity, Distress to Limitations, Sadness, High Pleasure, Low pleasure, Approach, Rate of Recovery from Distress, Soothability, Smiling and Laugher, and Duration of Orienting). Questionnaires were filled out by the physicians with the cooperation of the parents. The AD group showed significantly higher scores in Perceptual Sensitivity, Soothability, and High Pleasure compared with control group (p = 0.000). In other characteristics no significant difference were noticed between atopic and non-patients. For eight characteristics, scores of atopic infants were similar healthy infants, but they tend to show more pleasure when subjected to an intense, novel or incongruity stimuli compared with healthy infants. Theoretically, higher scores in Perceptual Sensitivity, Soothability, and High Pleasure are concordant with the pervious studies about adrenomedullary system over activity.