Evaluation of Sleep Quality in Infants with Atopic Dermatitis and Their Mothers

Aim: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic skin disease with relapses that are frequently encountered in infants. The relationship between AD and infant sleep is not clearly known, but it is an essential area of research because sleep plays a vital role in infant development. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the sleep quality of infants with AD and their mothers admitted to the pediatric allergy and immunology outpatient clinic and to examine the relationship with disease severity. Methods: Eighty patients diagnosed with AD between 1-12 months of age and their mothers constituted the patient group. A control group was formed with 80 healthy infants of the same age group. The BISQ-R (Brief Infant Sleep Questionnaire-Revised) was used to assess the sleep quality of the infants in the patient and control groups, and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) was used to determine the mothers' sleep quality. Results: There was no statistically significant difference between the patient and control groups regarding age, gender, and maternal age. There was a statistically significant difference between the BISQ-R and PSQI scores of the patient and control groups (p=0.002, p=0.001, respectively). Infants and their mothers in the patient group had worse sleep quality compared to the control group. A moderate positive linear relationship was found between the objective SCORAD scores of the patients and the PSQI scores of the mothers (p: 0.04, r: 0.32). A highly negative linear relationship was found between the objective SCORAD scores of the patients and the BISQ-R scores (p < 0.001 r: -0.78). It was found that the presence of food allergy had a negative effect on infant and maternal sleep quality, whereas breastfeeding had a positive effect. Conclusion: In this study, the presence of AD was found to negatively affect the sleep quality of the infant and the mother. As the severity of AD increases, the sleep quality of the infant and the mother is more negatively affected. AD patients with food allergies and their mothers should be monitored more closely for sleep disturbance. Encouraging mothers to breastfeed may positively affect infant and maternal sleep quality.