Doctor Visits Up for Kids' Eczema

(WebMD)  The number of doctor visits for children with atopic dermatitis (a type of eczema) has risen in recent years, new research shows.

A study published in September's edition of the journal Pediatrics traces the trend.

The study shows that there were 620,000 pediatric visits for atopic dermatitis in 1997. That number rose to 1.7 million pediatric visits in 2003 and dropped to 850,000 doctor visits in 2004.

Those figures are based on two large CDC databases that track medical care for children and teens.

The trend was stronger for African-American and Asian children than for white children, and for toddlers and young kids, compared with older children and teens.

The researchers - who included dermatologist Karen Horii, M.D., of Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics in Kansas City, Mo. - aren't sure what accounts for the trend.

Perhaps atopic dermatitis, which is already children's most common inflammatory skin disease, is becoming even more common. Or maybe doctors are getting better at diagnosing it, Horii's team suggests.

The 2003 peak in pediatric visits for atopic dermatitis may be linked to a new class of eczema drugs called topical calcineurin inhibitors that debuted that year. The buzz about those drugs may have prompted some parents to take their children to the pediatrician, the researchers speculate.

But another class of drugs, topical corticosteroids, are kids' typical atopic dermatitis prescription - and most doctors didn't write prescriptions for kids' atopic dermatitis, the study shows.

Because the data focus on doctor visits, not the number of patients, it's not clear how many kids had all those appointments with doctors. Some children may have had several appointments for their atopic dermatitis.
By Miranda Hitti
Reviewed by Louise Chang
©2007 WebMD, Inc. All rights reserved

[bjmoj]

I can feel your pain DRINUK. My son had really bad bouts of eczema after each vaccination...finally we stoppd them all together when he was about 9 months old. The Dr.s did not want to agree with what we were going through. They gave me all these "warnings" that he was going to be a very sickly child being he was almost 7 weeks early @ birth. All-in-all he has been the healthiest child in his pre-schools, and now that he is in elementary school, he still has had no childhood illnesses. He may get a runny nose & cough every now & then but other than that he is VERY HEALTHY. My daughter that is older than him has had no vaccines since we figured it all was related to the vaccines. And suppossedly she was getting the vaccince that helps with ear infections. She repeatedly got ear infections and stayed sick with something or another until she was 2 (when we stopped her vaccines) Now she is hardly ever sick with the exception of catching a viral "flu" bug twice. I do not regret my descision to halt vaccines. I

[ecuadoriana]

Overload of vaccinations at younger ages, anti-bacterial everything from soaps, washcloths, diapers & clothes, too many prescribed & over the counter meds, preservatives & chemicals in & on the food...

It''s so obvious what the cause is.

I know quite a few people who were diagnosed with asthma as adults & within a short time of inhaler use all suddenly developed eczema & other skin ailments, which of course their doctors quickly prescribed more medication & creams for.

Doctors are so quick to prescribe medications for every little thing & the side effects prompt yet another prescription!

With so much use of anti-bacterial everything the body doesn''t build up antibodies against normal every day dirt. Necessary oils are stripped away leaving dry itchy skin behind.

I can''t understand why the same generation who grew up making mud pies, playing in dirt, climbing trees, drinking from communal garden hoses, sharing chewing gum, eating worms on a dare suddenly became so scared of a few germs that they hermetically seal their own kids from the world with anti-bacterial soaps?!

[drinuk]

As a life long sufferer of Eczema I fully sympathise
with these kids. Still having to manage the condition after sixty years I am often reminded of my fathers comment regarding the severe and chronic condition of both my Sister and I. "You were fine until you had those bloody injections and then three years later your Mother and I were stupid and ignorant in allowing your Sister to have them too" Needless to say she was fine too until vaccinated.

It really is time we STOPPED Big Pharma dictating what poisons we inject directly into our children''s bloodstream. Generations are being crippled by their greed and avarice not to mention their corrupt incestuous relationship with those employed by us to protect us from such villainy.

How can our politicians allow this ?