Tape Test Predicts Eczema Risk in Babies, Discovers Copenhagen-based Researchers via Personal Care Insignts

Analyzing immune biomarkers via a painless tape has been found to predict the chances of newborns developing pediatric atopic eczema, commonly experienced by babies. The discovery opens the door to research aimed at preventing the disease.

“Our findings of predictive skin biomarkers collected at two months of age will help identify children at highest risk of atopic eczema using a non-invasive and painless method, so future preventive strategies can target these children only and prevent cases of this common disease,” Dr. Anne-Sofie Halling, first author and co-researcher at the Bispebjerg Hospital, University of Copenhagen, tells PersonalCareInsights.

Reportedly, the test is the first to show that non-invasively collected skin biomarkers can predict the development of pediatric atopic eczema.

The study examined 450 babies (300 term and 150 preterm newborns) for their skin barrier and immune biomarkers, and whether this could predict the development of eczema during the first two years of life. It was funded by Lundbeck Foundation and led by Prof. Jacob Thyssen at Bispebjerg Hospital.