Association of Atopic Dermatitis and Learning Disability in Children

What Is Atopic Dermatitis?

Atopic dermatitis is referred to as eczema due to its long-lasting nature, characterized by inflammation, redness, and skin irritation commonly occurring in children. Atopic dermatitis is not at all contagious, so it cannot be spread from one person to another. Atopic dermatitis can cause skin irritation to an extent from mild scratching to severe aggressive scratching of the affected areas of the body. Vigorous scratching further leads to redness, swelling, cracking, and weeping of the clear fluid, causing crusting of the skin. Factors like hereditary, the immune system, and the environment play an important role.

The skin may appear red, purple, or gray depending on the skin tone. It is commonly seen in children but can occur at any age. This flares at regular intervals and is more common in people with asthma and hay fever. Self-care can prevent itching and new outbreaks. The possible chronic itch can lead to poor sleep and distraction from the ability to learn in children.

Atopic dermatitis in children is associated with sleep disruptions, attention, and memory problems. Children with atopic dermatitis have learning disabilities or disorders that can impair their areas of learning such as,

• Writing.

• Learning.

• Mathematics.

• Poor mental health.

• Lower educational achievement.

• Worser occupational outcomes.

Children with learning disabilities versus those without learning disabilities are most commonly associated with severe atopic dermatitis. Children with atopic dermatitis were three times more likely to have learning disabilities than those without this condition. Children with atopic dermatitis associated with learning disabilities were still unknown.

Who Gets Atopic Dermatitis?

Atopic skin disease most commonly occurs in wealthy countries. People with atopic eczema may particularly cause clustering types of rashes accompanied by hay fever, asthma, and food allergies. All races can be affected by atopic eczema, but only a few races are more susceptible to this disease. In most cases, atopic dermatitis may start during infancy around 20 percent, and about 80 percent of people develop atopic eczema under six years of age. All ages can be affected by this atopic eczema.

What Are the Causes of Atopic Dermatitis?

The complex form of interplay between genetic and environmental factors can be the main cause of atopic eczema. It occurs in infants or children before six years of age and causes rashes, itching, and skin dryness.

What Are the Clinical Features Seen in Atopic Dermatitis?

Clinically atopic dermatitis can vary greatly and is characterized by remission and relapse with acute flares on the skin.

• Acute dermatitis is seen as redness on the skin (erythematous).

• Blisters (vesicles or bullae).

• Weeping or crusting (exudative).

Over time, dermatitis may become chronic, and the skin becomes thickened, less red, and also scaly. Cracking of the skin can be seen as fissures.

What Is Toddler and School-Aged Atopic Dermatitis?

The children grow and develop dermatitis with crawling. Dermatitis can mostly be seen on the extensor aspects such as elbows, ankles, and knees. Distribution becomes flexural with walking, particularly that involves the antecubital area and popliteal fossae around the elbows and knee areas. Some foods can also cause dermatitis around the mouth and the chin region. Chronic rubbing and scratching cause the skin to become dry and thickened, and occurring around the eye area can lead to damage to the eye. Atopic dermatitis is particularly seen in school-aged children and adolescents. They were often affected, and also the skin's barrier function was never completely normal.

What Are the Complications Seen in Atopic Dermatitis?

Complications of atopic dermatitis include the following such as,

• Bacterial infections.

• Viral skin infections.

• Fungal skin infections.

Other complications of skin infections include:

• Cutaneous abscess.

• Bacterial endocarditis.

• Herpes simplex virus.

• Osteomyelitis.

• Septic shock.

• Septic arthritis or bursitis.

How Is Atopic Dermatitis Related To Learning Disabilities?

Some studies are still being carried on to understand the correlation between itching, and scratching from this condition with sleeplessness, and lack of concentration. Some researchers believe it could also be a side effect of the medications given to children with learning abilities. Most children have atopic dermatitis around seven to eight years of age. Parents often notice their children experiencing symptoms of atopic dermatitis and other such skin troubles and also have low concentration abilities in school and at home. Hence, medical professionals concluded a direct correlation between this atopic dermatitis skin condition and learning disabilities. On investigation, children with other learning disorders, also showed symptoms of ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). For this reason, clinical psychologists also believe that the onset of a learning disability has some correlation between the skin condition and the focusing ability of the children.

What Are the Potential Side Effects and Causes of Learning Disabilities Connected With Eczema?

Some of the examples of learning disabilities in children that are linked to atopic dermatitis (eczema) include dyslexia (a learning disorder involving difficulty in reading due to the problems associated with speech sounds and how they relate the letters and the words) and nonverbal learning disabilities.

• Disturbed Sleep - Studies show children with ADHD and atopic dermatitis may have sleeping disturbances. People with atopic dermatitis feel a constant need to scratch themselves even during their sleep. This could cause interrupted sleeping patterns and may affect the quality of sleep. Children with learning disabilities find it difficult to understand that they should not scratch the affected areas of the body.

• Medications - Some children with learning disabilities are prescribed psychopharmacological medication which could aggravate atopic dermatitis. These medications could also cause skin reactions.

• Stress - Stress is one of the triggering zones for eczema. Those affected with learning disabilities are more likely to be under stress. Scratching all night could make them feel restless even without the knowledge of what they are doing, and waking up with bleeding spots resulting in bigger forms of skin rashes is a normal thing to occur in affected patients. People may not be socially acceptable as the act of scratching could be quite embarrassing for some and may across as an unhygienic act.

Conclusion:

Based on some studies, children with atopic dermatitis with mild, moderate, and severe diseases were mostly reported with learning disabilities and were also diagnosed by healthcare providers with almost clear skin. Children with the most severe atopic dermatitis should be screened for learning disabilities so that appropriate therapies and support can be given to them.