Short summary
Adequate sleep is critical for wellbeing and physical health. Sleep disturbances are common in individuals with eczema (synonymous with atopic dermatitis), yet little is known about how eczema impacts sleep at different ages. Because eczema often occurs early in life and may wax and wane, it is important to better understand the impact on sleep over the course of the disease. We will use ALSPAC data to understand whether individuals with eczema have worse quality and quantity of sleep at each developmental stage, to understand how individual patterns of eczema disease activity relate to sleep over the long-term (i.e. do individuals with resolving eczema continue to have poor sleep in adolescence?), and to identify factors that may help to predict which patients are most likely to suffer from poor sleep so that they can receive targeted interventions.

Detailed summary
Research over the past decades has identified sleep as an important public health issue. Lack of sleep has been associated with an overall reduction in one’s quality of life, multiple health conditions, and even an increased risk of death. Adequate sleep during infancy and childhood may be especially important for brain development and the formation of long-lasting sleeping patterns. The teenage years are another critical period during which sleep disorders often arise.

Atopic dermatitis (eczema) typically begins in infancy or early childhood, and may persist into adulthood. Patients suffer from an intense sensation of itch, which is often worse at night, and leads to scratching and poor sleep. Studies from clinic populations suggest many children with eczema experience sleep disruptions, which may occur even when they don’t have active skin lesions. Little is known about how sleep loss affects eczema patients in the general population at different ages. Because the clinical course is heterogeneous and eczema waxes and wanes, it is especially important to study the relationship between eczema and sleep loss over time so that we can develop recommendations about which patients may need special treatment.

We will use data from over 14,000 people followed from infancy through adolescence to understand whether individuals with eczema have worse quality and quantity of sleep at each developmental stage, how individual patterns of eczema disease activity relate to sleep over the long-term (i.e. do individuals with resolving eczema continue to have poor sleep in adolescence?), and identify factors that may help to predict which patients are most likely to suffer from poor sleep so that they can receive targeted interventions. Our results will be used for future studies of targeted treatments and the impact of sleep on other outcomes like depression, ADHD, obesity and school achievement.