Women's and Children's Hospital, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
Starship Children's Hospital, Te Whatu Ora Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand.
Australas J Dermatol. 2024 Nov;65(7):576-584. doi: 10.1111/ajd.14347. Epub 2024 Jul 14.
To determine the prevalence of eczema among children in New Zealand.
Population-based retrospective observational study utilising national pharmaceutical dispensing records for topical corticosteroids and emollients for all New Zealand children aged 0-14 years from 1st January 2006 to 31st December 2019. Data are reported using descriptive statistics, with comparisons between ethnicities and socioeconomic quintiles undertaken with rate ratios.
Based on dispensing data, the prevalence of eczema for New Zealand children aged 0-14 years in 2018 was 14.0% (95% CI 14.0%-14.1%), with prevalence decreasing in older age groups (children aged <1 year 26.0% (25.6%-26.4%); children aged 10-14 years 8.8% (8.7%-8.9%)). Prevalence was higher in Pacific children (23.6% (23.3%-24.0%)), but slightly lower in Māori children (13.2% (13.0%-13.3%)).
Eczema is a common condition affecting a considerable proportion of children in New Zealand. This study provides nationwide paediatric prevalence data for New Zealand, and highlights the increased burden of eczema in Pacific children. Inequity in dispensing of topical corticosteroids is postulated to explain the reduced rates found for Māori children compared to previous studies. These results support the need for further research to determine factors contributing to differing eczema prevalence rates in New Zealand.
确定新西兰儿童湿疹的患病率。
这是一项利用全国性药物配给记录进行的基于人群的回顾性观察研究，研究对象为 2006 年 1 月 1 日至 2019 年 12 月 31 日期间所有 0-14 岁的新西兰儿童，研究药物包括局部皮质类固醇和保湿剂。数据以描述性统计进行报告，并通过率比比较种族和社会经济五分位数之间的差异。
根据配药数据，2018 年新西兰 0-14 岁儿童的湿疹患病率为 14.0%（95%CI 14.0%-14.1%），且在年龄较大的组中患病率逐渐下降（<1 岁的儿童为 26.0%（25.6%-26.4%）；10-14 岁的儿童为 8.8%（8.7%-8.9%））。太平洋岛民儿童的患病率较高（23.6%（23.3%-24.0%）），而毛利儿童的患病率略低（13.2%（13.0%-13.3%））。
湿疹是一种常见疾病，影响了相当一部分新西兰儿童。本研究提供了新西兰全国性的儿科患病率数据，并强调了湿疹在太平洋岛民儿童中负担加重。推测局部皮质类固醇配给的不平等解释了与之前研究相比毛利儿童的比例较低的原因。这些结果支持进一步研究以确定导致新西兰湿疹患病率不同的因素的必要性。
