Probiotics in the treatment of atopic eczema/dermatitis syndrome in infants: a double-blind placebo-controlled trial.
BACKGROUND
Probiotic bacteria are suggested to reduce symptoms of the atopic eczema/dermatitis syndrome (AEDS) in food-allergic infants. We aimed to investigate whether probiotic bacteria have any beneficial effect on AEDS.


METHODS
Follow-up of severity of AEDS by the Severity Scoring of Atopic Dermatitis (SCORAD) index in 230 infants with suspected cow's milk allergy (CMA) receiving, in a randomized double-blinded manner, concomitant with elimination diet and skin treatment, Lactobacillus GG (LGG), a mixture of four probiotic strains, or placebo for 4 weeks. Four weeks after the treatment, CMA was diagnosed with a double-blind placebo-controlled (DBPC) milk challenge in 120 infants.


RESULTS
In the whole group, mean SCORAD (at baseline 32.5) decreased by 65%, but with no differences between treatment groups immediately or 4 weeks after the treatment. No treatment differences were observed in infants with CMA either. In IgE-sensitized infants, however, the LGG group showed a greater reduction in SCORAD than did the placebo group, -26.1 vs-19.8 (P=0.036), from baseline to 4 weeks after the treatment. Exclusion of infants who had received antibiotics during the study reinforced the findings in the IgE-sensitized subgroup.


CONCLUSIONS
Treatment with LGG may alleviate AEDS symptoms in IgE-sensitized infants but not in non-IgE-sensitized infants.
Viljanen
M
M
The Skin and Allergy Hospital, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
Savilahti
E
E
Haahtela
T
T
Juntunen-Backman
K
K
Korpela
R
R
Poussa
T
T
Tuure
T
T
Kuitunen
M
M
D001419:Bacteria; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D003876:Dermatitis, Atopic / Q000097:blood / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000097:blood; D007223:Infant; D007778:Lactobacillus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D008297:Male; D016269:Milk Hypersensitivity / Q000150:complications*; D019936:Probiotics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013577:Syndrome
D007073:Immunoglobulin E