What causes worsening of eczema?
Langan SM; Williams HC Centre of Evidence-based Dermatology, Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham NG7 2UH, UK. sinead.langan@nottingham.ac.uk BACKGROUND: Flares of eczema are attributed to many factors, often with minimal scientific evidence. OBJECTIVES: Systematically to search, summarize and critically appraise the scientific evidence to support the roles of individual ‘flare factors’ in eczema. METHODS: We searched Medline from 1966 until 20 April 2005 to identify relevant articles for inclusion in this review. No language restrictions were imposed. All study designs were included and were ranked according to the strength of evidence. Experimental and provocation studies were restricted to those using a double-blind design. We included randomized controlled trials if they were provocation studies. Meta-analysis was not possible due to differences in study populations and methodology. The studies are therefore described qualitatively. RESULTS: The roles of foodstuffs (13 studies), hous
