China: Antioxidants alone or when combined with oral vitamin D and topical vitamin B12 may be a safe and effective treatment for atopic dermatitis (AD) patients, both adults, and children, says research published online in Dermatologic Therapy.
Antioxidants use in AD is controversial. Considering this, Hua Wang, Children's Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China, and colleagues conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the efficacy and safety of antioxidants therapy in AD.

For this purpose, the researchers identified randomised clinical trials from Medline, Embase and Cochrane library. Using individual studies changes from baseline in severity and itch score were extracted and pooled using random-effects. Eighteen trials including 763 AD patients were eligible.
The findings of the study were as follows:
A significantly higher prevalence of VFs (33.7%) was detected in patients with acromegaly than the controls.
Among the patients with acromegaly and VFs, 12 (38.7%) showed multiple VFs, 5 (16.1%) showed moderate/severe VFs.
Patients with VFs had higher random serum GH levels than those with no VFs, but there was no difference in IGF-I and IGF-I ratio.
Free T3 was slightly lower in patients with acromegaly and VFs than those without VFs.
In multiple logistic analysis, GH was independently associated with the risk for VFs.
The preoperative serum GH cut-off value that predicted VFs was 12ng/mL.
The researchers wrote, "the results of this meta-analysis support the favorable efficacy and safety of antioxidants for adjunctive AD therapy, especially when supplemented with oral VD and topical VB12 in pediatric patients,"
"Further trials with more high quality and monitoring serum antioxidant levels or antioxidant capacity levels are needed."
Reference:
Yang H, Chen JS, Luo XY, Wang H. Efficacy and safety profile of antioxidants in the treatment of atopic dermatitis: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Dermatol Ther. 2022 May 3:e15549. doi: 10.1111/dth.15549. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35502578.