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. 2023;28(1):29-35.
doi: 10.5863/1551-6776-28.1.29. Epub 2023 Feb 3.

Evaluating the Effect of Eicosapentaenoic Acid in Children With Atopic Dermatitis: A Randomized Triple-Blind Clinical Trial

Bahador Mirrahimi  1 , Mahsa Moazemi  2 , Narges Eslami  3 , Elham Jamshidi  2 , Mahshad Mir  4 , Rezvaneh Mohebbi  4 , Hadi Esmaily  1
Affiliations

Evaluating the Effect of Eicosapentaenoic Acid in Children With Atopic Dermatitis: A Randomized Triple-Blind Clinical Trial

Bahador Mirrahimi et al. J Pediatr Pharmacol Ther. 2023.

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the effects of dietary eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) in children with atopic dermatitis.

Methods: Forty-eight children with atopic dermatitis were randomly allocated to receive either 250 mg twice daily EPA (n = 24) or placebo (n = 24) for 4 weeks. The absolute improvement in the SCORing Atopic Dermatitis (SCORAD) index and the necessity to use topical corticosteroids was evaluated.

Results: Based on an intention-to-treat analysis, after 2 weeks the scores decreased to 30.50 ± 8.91 and 38.34 ± 10.52 in the EPA and placebo groups, respectively (p = 0.015). Per-protocol analysis showed a decrease in scores to 18.01 ± 10.63 in the EPA group and to 30.11 ± 9.58 in the placebo group (p = 0.001). After 2 weeks, corticosteroid was needed in 11 (50.0%) patients in the EPA group and 14 (58.3%) patients in the placebo group (p = 0.571), and after 4 weeks, it was needed in 7 (33.3%) patients in the EPA group and 14 (63.6%) patients in the placebo group, respectively (p = 0.047).

Conclusions: Our results show significant favorable effects of EPA on the SCORAD scale and with regard to the necessity for corticosteroid readministration. Few adverse effects were reported in the 2 groups. We conclude that EPA supplementation is a well-tolerated and effective add-on strategy for reducing the severity of atopic dermatitis in children.

Keywords: atopic; dermatitis; dietary supplement; eczema; eicosapentaenoic acid; pediatrics.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosures. The authors declare no conflicts. The authors had full access to all the data and take responsibility for the integrity and accuracy of the data analysis.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Trend in changes between the SCORing Atopic Dermatitis (SCORAD) index for eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and placebo groups using intention-to-treat results.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Topical corticosteroid usage.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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