MOMMY-ATOPY

Eczema causes substantial physical and psychosocial morbidities in these victims, and the current mainstay treatments with corticosteroids and other anti-inflammatory drugs are associated with local and systemic adverse effects. The early-life gut microbiome is associated with the development of allergic diseases in children, including eczema, wheezing (asthma), and allergic sensitization.

Among these allergic diseases, eczema affects up to 20% of children and represents one of the earliest manifestations of the atopic march. Therefore, it is important to identify the factors affecting eczema development, especially in Chinese children, who showed the highest incidence rate of eczema in the first year of life among other ethnic groups. Taking advantage of the allergy-related clinical data collected systematically and prospectively, we will conduct a longitudinal nested case–control study of eczema across the first year of life. Our specific objectives are to

(i) characterize the development of the gut microbiome in a Chinese birth cohort during the first 3 years of life;

(ii) determine the effects of mode of delivery, feeding mode, intrapartum antibiotics use, and 22 other maternal, perinatal, fetal, or environmental variables on the early-life gut microbiome; and

(iii) identify alterations in the gut microbiome between infants with and without eczema.