Tsuchida T, Yoshida S, Takeuchi M, et al. - Findings demonstrate an association between antibiotic use in infancy and a subsequent increase in the incidence of atopic dermatitis (AD). This relationship deserves consideration when prescribing antibiotics, but antibiotic use may not be a critical factor for the development of AD.

• In this retrospective large-scale study utilizing data from a Japanese health insurance claims database, a total of 85,954 infants [8,654 (10.1%) who had received antibiotics and 77,300 who had not] were included to investigate the link between prescribing antibiotics for infants and subsequent AD.

• A diagnosis of AD was made in 1,183 (13.7%) and 10,325 (13.4%) infants, respectively.

• Exposure to antibiotics was associated with a greater likelihood to develop AD than the non-exposed group, however, this link vanished in the secondary, sibling-matched analysis of the two groups.

• Following were additional risk factors for AD: macrolides, aminoglycosides, food allergies and histamine H1 receptor antagonists.