Methods: A total of 590 children with AD (median age, 21 months) and 89 patients with asthma (median age, 100 months) were enrolled and followed for at least one year between November 2012 and March 2015. In children with AD, symptoms were recorded daily to describe the extent of itching, sleep disturbance, erythema, dryness, oozing and edema by using a scale of 0 to 4. AD modified symptom scores of each patient were expressed as scores above 20 percentile of total scores. In patients with asthma, daily PEFR was recorded in the morning. Modified PEFR was calculated percentage change from 80 percent of peak PEFR. Seasonal variation was analyzed by using generalized estimating equation analysis.
Results: AD symptom records of 87,879 person-days and PEFR records of 11,222 person-days were evaluated in this study. The highest AD modified symptom score was found in the spring, followed by winter, autumn and summer (1.9±2.2, 1.7±2.4, 1.5±2.2, 1.3±1.9, P < 0.05). Modified PEFR was lower in the autumn than in the winter (-7.0±9.2%, -4.9±8.2%, P< 0.05).
Conclusion: Symptoms in children with AD were worst in the spring, while PEFR in asthmatic children was lowest in the autumn