Infantile atopic dermatitis – increasing severity predicts negative impacts on maternal and infant sleep: a mixed methods study

BACKGROUND: While the impacts of atopic dermatitis (AD) on maternal and child sleep outcomes have been previously explored, less is known about the associations between infantile AD and sleep quality and quantity.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the perceived causes of AD-associated maternal sleep disturbances and the association between AD severity and infant sleep outcomes.

METHODS: Mothers with infants aged < 19 months old with a diagnosis of AD were recruited from social media and medical clinics in Winnipeg, Canada between October 2021 and May 2022.

Infant AD severity was classified using maternal-reported data on the Patient-Oriented Scoring Atopic Dermatitis tool (PO-SCORAD).

Quantitative data were collected via a series of questionnaires with a subset of mothers subsequently completing semi-structured interviews.

Quantitative and qualitative data were integrated in the discussion.

RESULTS: Mothers of infants with moderate/severe AD (6/12) were more likely to report their infant suffering from a higher degree of sleeplessness (i.e., ≥ 5 on a scale of 0–10) over the past 48 h compared to mothers of infants with mild AD (0/18).

This was supported by qualitative findings where mothers described how their infant’s sleep quality and quantity worsened with AD severity.

Additionally, 7/32 mothers reported that their child’s AD, regardless of severity, disturbed their sleep.

Maternal sleep loss was most commonly attributed to infant itching (6/7), followed by worry (4/7).

CONCLUSION: Infantile AD severity was associated with worse sleep outcomes for both mothers and infants.

We propose that maternal and infantile sleep quality and quantity can be improved by reducing AD severity through adherence to topical treatments.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13223-024-00883-x.