Awareness of and phobias about topical corticosteroids in parents of infants with eczema in Hangzhou, China.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Knowledge of and phobias about topical corticosteroids in parents of infants with eczema affect efficacy of eczema treatment.

METHODS

We surveyed 300 parents of children with eczema using a questionnaire to investigate knowledge of and phobias about topical corticosteroids.

RESULTS

Overall, 85.7% (n = 257) of children had used topical corticosteroids, with 12.8% (n = 33) of children having steroids applied for only 1-3 days per episode; 79.4% (n = 204) of patients discontinued topical steroid therapy immediately after improvement. Twenty-five percent (n = 75) of parents refused a prescription of steroid ointment, and 32.3% (n = 97) did not use the steroid ointment on their children despite having received a prescription. During steroid treatment, 95.7% (246) of parents were very concerned about the side effects of topical steroids. One hundred eight parents (42%) did not use a topical steroid ointment for recurrence of eczema because of concerns about using topical corticosteroids.

CONCLUSION

Most parents of infants with eczema had excessive concerns about topical corticosteroids, leading to inadequate treatment of atopic dermatitis. In clinical practice, physicians should reinforce parents' understanding of steroid treatment for eczema and guide rational use of topical steroids for infantile eczema.