School of Health Sciences and Social Work
Water softeners no benefit to children with eczema
Tue, 22 Feb 2011 10:48:00 GMT
In the first study of its kind to evaluate the potential benefit of ion-exchange water softeners on eczema, researchers found no clinical benefit to children diagnosed with the disease.
Water softeners have no proven clinical benefit on eczema, a new study has revealed.
In the first study of its kind to evaluate the potential benefit of ion-exchange water softeners on eczema, researchers found no clinical benefit to children diagnosed with the disease.
The chronic, inflammatory skin condition affects about 20% of school-aged children in developed countries. Researchers from the Universities of Portsmouth and Nottingham ran a trial on 336 children with eczema aged 6 months to 16 years living in hard water areas in Portsmouth, Nottingham, Cambridge, London, the Isle of Wight, Leicester and Lincoln.
Some participants had an ion-exchange water softener installed in their home and continued to use their usual eczema treatments while other participants relied solely on their usual eczema care. Their condition was tested over a period of 16 weeks by trained research nurses who examined each child’s skin at regular intervals to record changes in eczema severity. The researchers also analysed any changes in symptoms over the study period such as, sleep loss, itchiness and the amount of topical creams used.
The results, published in PloS Medicine, showed that during the course of the three month Softened Water Eczema Trial (SWET), researchers found no difference in eczema severity between the two groups.
Professor Tara Dean, from the University of Portsmouth, who specialises in allergies said:“Our results suggest that water softeners provide no additional clinical benefit to children with eczema. It means the use of ion-exchange water softeners for the management of moderate to severe eczema in children cannot be recommended.”
She said that prior to the trial the researchers had speculated that the opposite might prove true because of widespread anecdotal reports from patients of improvements when the family has moved from a hard to a soft water area or even during short holidays of two weeks. But until now there have been no relevant scientific studies published and no hard evidence.
Professor Dean, from School of Health Sciences and Social Work, said: “Up to one fifth of all children of school age have eczema, along with about one in 12 of the adult population. The potential significant benefits to patients and the low risk of adverse effects meant that public interest in finding solutions is high.
“But the results of a 16-week trial clearly demonstrated that softening the water with an ion-exchange softener did not improve the disease.”
Parents from both groups in the trial, however, did report small health benefits such as some improvements to symptoms such as scratching. Just over 50 per cent of parents chose to buy the water softener at the end of the trial because of perceived improvements in the eczema and the wider benefits of water softeners
Professor Dean said it is unclear how much of the perceived benefits can be explained by prior belief in the effectiveness of the water softeners for the treatment of eczema. “Other factors, such as improvements in quality of life, or a reduction in symptoms such as perception of skin dryness, may be important drivers.”
Eczema is often associated with other conditions, such as asthma, hay-fever and food allergy and can cause intractable itching leading to thickened skin, bleeding, secondary infection, sleep loss, poor concentration, and psychological distress.
The independent trial was run by a team of clinical and trial experts from the University of Portsmouth and the Centre of Evidence Based Dermatology at the University of Nottingham working with experts from the water industry. It was funded by National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment (HTA) programme.
The full report is published in PloS Medicine.