[Follow-up of atopic dermatitis after early childhood]

A total of 106 patients, 57 women and 49 men, had had atopic dermatitis even in infancy and were monitored by means of questionnaires at a mean age of 23.5 years. Items of interest were the course of the dermatosis, influences on its course and the frequency of respiratory allergic manifestations. The persistence rate of atopic dermatitis was 60.4%. It was possible to identify ten different courses of atopic dermatitis. Only 11.3% of these patients had suffered from the eczema exclusively during infancy. In 27.4% of cases the patients were free of manifestations for an average of 9 years, after which they had a new attack of the illness. Almost one third of the patients showed a continuous type of development of their atopic dermatitis, which had persisted since infancy. The most common localizations were the antecubal fossa (48.4%), the fingers (45.3%) and the face (37.5%). The course of atopic dermatitis was influenced by the seasons in 71% of these patients, and 59.4% observed a connection between psychic stress and the exacerbation of skin conditions or a new attack of the dermatosis. As adults, 59.4% of all patients suffered from one or more respiratory allergic manifestation: 41.5% had pollinosis, 24.5% allergic rhinitis, and 25.5% bronchial asthma. Respiratory allergies disappeared in 24 cases (19.8%), bronchial asthma at a mean age of 13 years, and pollinosis at 15.3 years and perennial rhinitis at 16 years on average.