Disease & Mechanisms
Map of Content — topic group mapped by judgment from infranodus community detection
Members
- Atopic Dermatitis — Chronic, itchy, relapsing inflammatory skin disease; peaks in infancy, shifts to flexures in toddlers; most but not all children improve
- Skin Barrier Dysfunction — Leaky, dry outer skin layer (genes + environment) that lets irritants, allergens and S. aureus in, driving and sustaining toddler eczema
- Filaggrin — Skin structural protein whose gene (FLG) mutations are the strongest known genetic risk factor for early, persistent eczema
- Natural Moisturising Factor — Water-binding mix (amino acids, PCA, urocanic acid, lactate, urea, salts) from filaggrin breakdown; low in eczema, raising pH and dryness.
- Transepidermal Water Loss — Water evaporating through the skin; a barrier-failure measure. High TEWL at day 2 and 2 months predicted eczema at 1 year (Kelleher 2015).
- Skin pH — Skin surface is acidic (pH 4–6); in eczema it rises, activating proteases, impairing ceramides, favouring Staph aureus. Soap raises it.
- Skin Microbiome — Skin microbe community; in flares diversity falls, S. aureus dominates (65% of untreated flares, Kong 2012); bacteriotherapy: trials only.
- Th2 Immune Response — Type 2 inflammation (IL-4, IL-13, IL-31, IgE) that drives eczema itch and inflammation and erodes the skin barrier
- Itch-Scratch Cycle — Self-reinforcing loop: itch → scratch → barrier damage and inflammation → more itch; drives toddler sleep loss, infection, lichenification.
- Lichenification — Thickened, leathery skin with exaggerated criss-cross lines from chronic scratching; a marker of chronic, poorly controlled eczema.
- Staphylococcus aureus — Bacterium colonising ~70% of eczema lesions; causes impetiginised flares. Antibiotics only if a child is unwell or infection is spreading.
- Malassezia — Skin yeast behind cradle cap/seborrhoeic dermatitis and the main sweat allergen in AD; antifungals target it, not routine eczema care.
- Atopic March — Classic AD → food allergy → asthma → hay fever sequence; Belgrave 2014 found under 7% of symptomatic children actually follow it.
- Asthma — Chronic airway disease often co-occurring with childhood eczema; risk tracks eczema severity and persistence, not a fixed ‘march’.
- Allergic Rhinitis — Hay fever: allergic nasal inflammation that often follows childhood eczema; ~44% of children with persistent infant eczema have it at 12.
- Ichthyosis Vulgaris — Inherited dry, fish-scale skin from filaggrin (FLG) loss; appears in infancy, often coexists with eczema, predicts earlier, persistent AD.
- Keratosis Pilaris — Harmless rough ‘chicken skin’ bumps on outer arms, thighs, cheeks; linked to atopic dermatitis and filaggrin; worse in winter.
- Eczema in Skin of Colour — On brown/black toddler skin eczema looks violaceous, grey or dark, often papular/follicular/extensor; redness-based scores under-rate it.
- Post-Inflammatory Hyperpigmentation — Darker patches left after eczema inflammation; most visible and longest-lasting on brown and black skin; fades over months.
- Eczema Prognosis — Whether toddlers outgrow eczema: many clear by school age, but severe, FLG-linked or sensitised disease persists more often.
- Eczema Trajectories — Six birth-cohort patterns of childhood eczema; most toddler eczema clears by school age; early-onset-persistent AD carries FLG/asthma risk.
- ALSPAC — UK Avon birth cohort (~14,700 children, 1990s); defined six eczema trajectories, most early eczema clears by 6–7 y; FLG drives persistence.
Key Relations
Filaggrin [relates] Atopic Dermatitis Staphylococcus aureus [worsens] Atopic Dermatitis Atopic Dermatitis [relates] Asthma Atopic March [precedes] Asthma Skin Barrier Dysfunction [defines] Atopic Dermatitis Th2 Immune Response [worsens] Skin Barrier Dysfunction Skin Microbiome [relates] Skin Barrier Dysfunction Natural Moisturising Factor [part-of] Skin Barrier Dysfunction Ichthyosis Vulgaris [relates] Natural Moisturising Factor Skin pH [relates] Staphylococcus aureus Transepidermal Water Loss [precedes] Atopic Dermatitis Itch-Scratch Cycle [worsens] Skin Barrier Dysfunction Lichenification [relates] Eczema Prognosis Malassezia [part-of] Skin Microbiome Asthma [precedes] Allergic Rhinitis Eczema Trajectories [relates] Asthma Eczema Prognosis [relates] Asthma Allergic Rhinitis [relates] Asthma Keratosis Pilaris [relates] Atopic Dermatitis Eczema in Skin of Colour [part-of] Atopic Dermatitis Post-Inflammatory Hyperpigmentation [relates] Eczema in Skin of Colour ALSPAC [supports] Eczema Trajectories Filaggrin [worsens] Atopic March Staphylococcus aureus [worsens] Skin Barrier Dysfunction Atopic Dermatitis [precedes] Lichenification Atopic March [precedes] Allergic Rhinitis Skin Barrier Dysfunction [causes] Transepidermal Water Loss Th2 Immune Response [worsens] Filaggrin Skin Microbiome [relates] Atopic Dermatitis Natural Moisturising Factor [prevents] Transepidermal Water Loss