Epidemiology of childhood atopic dermatitis.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) or eczema is a chronic inflammatory skin disorder with significant morbidity and quality of life impairment. Elucidating the epidemiology of AD is important for understanding disease risk factors and facilitates development of interventions for disease prevention. This contribution aims to summarize recent developments in the epidemiology of AD, including the US prevalence, regional differences, and secular trends of disease prevalence, genetic and environmental determinants, distribution, and determinants of disease severity and health care use for AD.