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Eczema, insufficient sleep could affect growth in small percentage of children

Eczema in childhood or adulthood generally was not associated with short stature; however, a small percentage of children between the ages of 10 and 11 with eczema and insufficient sleep experienced a negative effect on growth, according to study results.

Jonathan I. Silverberg, MD, PhD, MPH, and Amy S. Paller, MD, MS, reviewed data for 264,326 children and adolescents and 85,311 adults from nine U.S. population-based studies from 2003 to 2012.

Jonathan I. Silverberg

The study’s main outcomes were percentiles of height for age and sex in children and height in adults. Multivariate survey linear or regression models were used for individual studies, and generalized linear mixed models were used for pooled analyses.

Significant differences of height were not significantly associated with eczema (continuous or <5th or <25^th percentiles) in the studies or pooled analyses, according to the researchers. There was significant interaction by age, as eczema was associated with shorter stature at aged 12 to 13 years; however, it was not associated with shorter stature for the age ranges of 14 to 15 years, 16 to 17 years or adulthood. The researchers did find an association between moderate-to-severe eczema and shorter stature at the continuous and less-than-25^th percentile.

Amy S. Paller

“In particular, short stature (<5^th percentile) was associated with eczema only when accompanied by an indicator of insufficient sleep (i.e., 0 to 3 nights of sufficient sleep per week; 1.3% of children with eczema) but was not associated with asthma, hay fever or use of prescription medication,” the researchers wrote.

Children between the ages of 10 and 11 years had significant interaction between eczema and insufficient sleep, but not at other ages, which suggested that the association might be reversible, according to the researchers.

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.