Painful, itching of the skin associated with obesity in children (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - obese children may be more likely to develop severe eczema, a painful condition, extremely itchy skin, according to a new study.

Children who were not obese children who become obese between the ages of 2 and 5 years old had more than three times the risk of developing the condition. If they were younger when they became obese - babies or toddlers - their risk of skin uncomfortable disease seemed to be much higher.

To make matters worse, when the State of the skin occurred in obese children, it was more serious than usual.

"The most severe (case) have tend to be in agony," said Dr. Jonathan Silverberg, a dermatologist at St. Luke's - Roosevelt Hospital in New York.

"It compromises their sleep, it affects their performance in school," Silverberg, who co-authored the study, told Reuters Health.

About one in ten children in the general population has eczema, chronic inflammation characterized by dry skin, intense itching and discomfort, according to the American Academy of Dermatology.

According to the CDC, approximately one in ten children aged less than five is obese.

"Children who are obese during a long period are more likely to get eczema," Silverberg said. "If you are able to reverse the obesity with a loss of weight, children may be less likely to develop eczema, or may improve the symptoms of eczema.".

Using information from medical records, Silverberg and his colleagues studied more than 400 children and adolescents with eczema and twice this number did not state of the skin. Ages in the study ranged from 1 to 21 years.

Overall, the researchers found that obesity was almost twice as common in children and adolescents with of eczema. Approximately nine out of every 100 study participants were obese, compared to only five of 100 without the skin disease eczema.

And researchers have seen more cases of eczema among those who were obese at a younger age. For example, for every 10 children who were obese aged 2 to 5, about six then to develop eczema. By comparison, in some time after their fifth birthday, three has subsequently developed eczema for every 10 children who become obese.

Eczema is generally treated with creams or topical antibiotics. However, when it covers large areas of the body, doctors sometimes prescribe oral steroids, said Silverberg. Steroids may interfere with the growth of children, or affect their bone development.

Scratching can also often lead to infection and it is "not unusual to have to put children on oral antibiotics, sometimes several courses," said Silverberg.

Frequent use of antibiotics raises another concern: people treated with lots of antibiotics are more vulnerable to superbugs such as Staphylococcus aureus resistant to Methicillin (MRSA). These antibiotic-resistant germs can live on the skin, and severe infections may become life-threatening, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

"The problem is that there is no cure" for eczema, said Silverberg. But in ensuring that children become obese, some of the risks of the State of the skin can be avoided, he said.

This study shows not that obese causes eczema, said Giamila Fantuzzi, Associate Professor of Kinesiology and nutrition at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Instead, obesity and eczema can have a common cause.

"There is certainly a link between obesity and inflammation and (eczema) is an inflammatory disease", Fantuzzi, who was not part of the study, told Reuters Health.

"When people become obese, their adipose tissue becomes greater, and it led to the development of inflammation in adipose tissue" she said. "" "". The spill in the rest of the body. ?

Weight loss would reduce this inflammation and probably lead to a reduction of the disease of the skin, Fantuzzi said. Loss of weight also reduces the risk other problems associated with obesity, such as diabetes and heart disease.

"A diet appropriate and have the children moving is the best thing," she said.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/gyG5G9 Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, online March 16, 2011.

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