A recent study published in the Journal of Asthma and Allergy reveals that the mental health and sleep quality of mothers with children affected by mild atopic dermatitis (AD) significantly improved following treatment.
While numerous previous studies have examined the physical and psychological symptoms of children with moderate-to-severe AD before and after treatment, this research underscores the importance of considering the well-being of parents, particularly mothers, in influencing the health and development of children with AD.
The study focused on a randomly selected group of preschool children with varying degrees of AD severity and their mothers, drawn from the Second Affiliated Hospital and Yuying Children’s Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University in China. Eligible parent-child pairs included children aged 1 month to 5 years, with mothers as their primary caregivers during sleep. Additional criteria ensured that the children met diagnostic criteria for AD, and the mothers had no chronic or psychological illnesses.
A total of 120 parent-child pairs participated in the study, with 90 experiencing mild-to-severe AD. The researchers divided these 90 pairs into three groups based on AD severity, while the remaining 30 children served as a healthy control group without AD or a history of personal or family atopic diseases.
The study, conducted between July 2019 and January 2021, employed scales to assess anxiety, depression levels, and sleep disorders in the mothers before and after their children underwent standard treatment. The mothers’ psychological well-being and sleep quality were evaluated using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAD-A and HAD-D) and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), respectively, both before and after one month of comprehensive treatment for their children.
