Association between Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Intake and Eczema in Children and Adolescents

Eczema is a common allergic skin condition among children and adolescents, and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are a kind of fatty acid which were reported to be associated with reduced risk of eczema. Previous studies explored different types of PUFAs with various age groups of children and adolescents, and the influence of confounding factors such as medicine use was not considered. In the present study, we aimed to identify the associations between PUFAs and the risk of eczema in children and adolescents. These findings of our study might help better understand the associations between PUFAs and eczema.

This cross-sectional study collected the data of 2,560 children and adolescents aged 6-19 years from National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) between 2005 and 2006. Total PUFA, omega-3 (n-3), including octadecatrienoic acid/18:3, octadecatrienoic acid/18:4, eicosapentaenoic acid/20:5, docosapentaenoic acid/22:5, and docosahexaenoic acid/22:6, omega-6 (n-6), including octadecatrienoic acid/18:2 and eicosatetraenoic acid/20:4, total n-3 intake, total n-6 intake, and n-3/n-6 were main variables in this study. Univariate logistic regression was applied for identifying potential confounders for eczema. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis were conducted to explore the associations between PUFAs and eczema. Subgroup analysis was performed on subjects with different ages, and patients complicated with other allergic diseases, allergy, and medicine use or not.

In total, there were 252 (9.8%) subjects who had eczema. After adjusting for confounding factors including age, race, poverty to income ratio (PIR), medicine use, hay fever, sinus infection, body mass index (BMI), serum total immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibody, and IgE, we observed that eicosatetraenoic acid/20:4 (OR = 0.17, 95% CI: 0.04-0.68) and total n-3 (OR = 0.88, 95% CI: 0.77-0.99) were linked with decreased risk of eczema in children and adolescents. Eicosatetraenoic acid/20:4 was correlated with decreased risk of eczema in participants without hay fever (OR = 0.82, 95% CI: 0.70-0.97) and medicine use (OR = 0.80, 95% CI: 0.68-0.94) or with allergy (OR = 0.75, 95% CI: 0.59-0.94). Total n-3 intake was associated with a reduced risk of eczema with the adjusted OR of 0.84, 95% CI: 0.72-0.98) in participants without hay fever. In those without sinus infection, octadecatrienoic acid/18:4 was linked with decreased risk of eczema (OR = 0.83, 95% CI: 0.69-0.99).

N-3 and eicosatetraenoic acid/20:4 might be associated with the risk of eczema in children and adolescents.