Prenatal Maternal Risk Factors linked to Atopic Dermatitis in offsprings

A recent study by Hong Cui and team found that gestational diabetes, maternal history of allergy, and prenatal history of eczema were found to be major determining risk factors of Atopic Dermatitis in Children. The findings were published in Annals of Dermatology.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common skin condition that affects children worldwide. There is evidence to suggest that certain gestational and prenatal risk factors may predispose children to the development of AD. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the association between modifiable and non-modifiable gestational and prenatal risk factors that affect the AD prevalence in children.

The review included 27 cohort studies published between 2000 and 2021, and the meta-analysis found that several gestational and prenatal risk factors were associated with the early manifestation of AD in children. Among the non-modifiable risk factors, gestational diabetes, maternal history of allergy, and prenatal history of eczema were found to be major determining risk factors. Further, maternal exposure to industrial products, exposure to antibiotics during pregnancy, and passive smoking during pregnancy were identified as leading causes of early AD manifestation.

Specifically, the pooled odds ratio (OR) for gestational diabetes was 7.2, indicating that women with gestational diabetes were more than 7 times more likely to have a child with early-onset AD compared to women without gestational diabetes.

Similarly, the pooled OR for maternal history of allergy was 2.14, indicating that children born to mothers with a history of allergy were more than twice as likely to develop AD. The pooled OR for prenatal history of eczema was 2.46, suggesting that children with a history of eczema in utero were also at increased risk for AD.

Among the modifiable risk factors, maternal exposure to industrial products had a pooled OR of 1.89, indicating that exposure to these products during pregnancy increased the risk of early-onset AD.

Exposure to antibiotics during pregnancy had a pooled OR of 3.59, indicating a strong association with AD. Finally, passive smoking during pregnancy had a pooled OR of 2.60, suggesting that exposure to secondhand smoke during pregnancy also increased the risk of AD in children

The authors concluded that both genetic and environmental factors play a pivotal role in the early manifestation of AD, and better management of environmental factors during the gestational phase may help to curtail the prevalence of AD in children. 

Source:

Cui, H., & Mu, Z. (2023). Prenatal Maternal Risk Factors Contributing to Atopic Dermatitis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Cohort Studies. In Annals of Dermatology (Vol. 35, Issue 1, p. 11). XMLink. https://doi.org/10.5021/ad.21.268.