The patients

were reviewed at the end of 2 weeks. Measurements of the SCORAD score, Children’s Dermatology Life Quality Index (CDLQI), skin hydration, and TEWL were repeated. The patient’s global or general acceptability of treatment (GAT) was recorded as ‘very good’, ‘good’, ‘fair’, or ‘poor’ [8, 13]. Ethical approval for the study was obtained from the Clinical Research Ethics Committee of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and written informed consent was obtained from each patient and his/her guardian. Continuous data are expressed as means and standard deviations (SDs). The Mann-Whitney U test for inter-group comparisons and the McNemar test for within-group comparisons with small numbers of subjects were used. Categorical data are presented as counts. selleck products The χ2 test or Fisher’s exact test, where appropriate, were used to compare categorical data. κ values were determined for the previously DNA Damage inhibitor used proprietary products and for the LMF moisturizer and moisturizing wash. All comparisons were two-tailed, and p values of ≤0.05 were considered click here statistically significant. 3 Results Between December 2011 and June 2012, 24 patients [63 % male; mean age 13.8 (SD 5.7) years] with AD were recruited and treated with applications of the LMF moisturizer and moisturizing wash. Compliance was good, and patients generally

managed to use the moisturizer daily. Two thirds reported very good or good acceptability of the LMF moisturizer, whereas one third reported fair or poor acceptability (Tables 1, 2; the male percentages were 81 % and 25 %, respectively; p = 0.021). Table 1 Global acceptability of treatmenta Acceptability Emollient [n] Body wash [n] LMF moisturizer Other proprietary product Moisturizing wash Other proprietary Bay 11-7085 product Very good 3 1 3 0 Good 13

13 10 11 Fair 7 10 11 13 Poor 1 0 0 0 LMF ceramide-precursor lipids and moisturizing factors aWhen the data were analyzed for the strength of the agreement of the rating of acceptability, the κ values were 0.338 (fair) for use of body wash and 0.118 (poor) for use of emollients before and after the trial Table 2 Acceptability and efficacy of treatment with the LMF moisturizera Parameter Very good/good acceptability (n = 16) Fair/poor acceptability (n = 8) p valuesb (1) Pre-treatment (2) Post-treatment (3) Pre-treatment (4) Post-treatment (1) versus (2) (3) versus (4) (1) versus (3) (2) versus (4) Global acceptability of treatment  Male gender [n (%)]   13 (81)c   2 (25)       0.021  Age [years]   13.2 (5.7)   14.8 (5.8)       0.70 Objective SCORAD score (SD) 31.5 (13.7) 25.7 (14.0) 42.3 (22.2) 40.5 (17.6) 0.039 0.46 0.086 0.035 Pruritus score (SD) 5.6 (1.8) 4.9 (2.0) 6.5 (2.3) 6.6 (2.1) 0.20 0.98 0.35 0.043 Sleep disturbance score (SD) 3.6 (3.1) 3.3 (2.6) 5.8 (3.3) 6.3 (3.2) 0.36 0.63 0.15 0.032 Skin hydration [a.u. (SD)] 30.7 (12.3) 36.0 (10.5) 36.1 (16.0) 39.2 (19.8) 0.