Clinical comparison of alclometasone dipropionate cream 0.05% with hydrocortisone butyrate cream 0.1% in the treatment of atopic dermatitis in children.

Alclometasone dipropionate cream 0.05% was compared to hydrocortisone butyrate cream 0.1% in the treatment of atopic dermatitis in forty children, 5 to 11 years old. In this double-blind, parallel-group trial, the experimental creams were applied twice daily for 2 weeks, without occlusion, to the study areas. Efficacy was evaluated 1 and 2 weeks after the start of treatment. Both creams were effective treatments for atopic dermatitis; however, alclometasone dipropionate was judged slightly more efficacious. Improvement in erythema, induration, and pruritus averaged 76% for alclometasone dipropionate-treated patients and 70% for hydrocortisone butyrate-treated patients. At the end of treatment, the physician's global evaluation indicated nineteen of twenty patients in the alclometasone dipropionate group had between 51% and 100% improvement in disease signs and symptoms, compared with sixteen of twenty patients treated with hydrocortisone butyrate. Two patients in the alclometasone dipropionate-treated group and one in the hydrocortisone butyrate-treated group reported mild stinging.