Clinical curative effect and quality of life evaluation of dupilumab in treating children with atopic dermatitis and its effect on IgE levels, eosinophil count, Th2 cytokines (IL-4 and IL-13), and thymus and activation-regulated chemokine

Introduction:
Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common chronic skin inflammatory disease. The traditional treatment shows limited effect and side effects. Dupilumab is a monoclonal antibody immunotherapy targeting IL-4 and IL-13, which may become a new direction for treating AD.

Aim:
This study was to explore the clinical curative effect of dupilumab in the treatment of children with AD, and its influence on the quality of life (QoL) of children.

Material and methods:
54 children with AD, who were treated in the outpatient and inpatient departments of the hospital from August 2023 to July 2024, were brought into this work were included in this study. These children were treated with dupilumab, and their clinical curative effect as well as QoL were evaluated through relevant scales as well as the IgE, eosinophil counts, and Th2 cytokine levels.

Results:
After treatment, Eczema Area and Severity Index (EASI) score was 8.8 ±4.5, Scoring Atopic Dermatitis (SCORAD) score was 15.1 ±8.4, and itching Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) score was 1.1 ±0.7. Compared with those before treatment, the scores of 25.4 ±6.2, 38.6 ±10.3, and 6.9 ±2.2 were highly decreased with differences being statistically significant (p < 0.05). Only 3 cases had an Investigator’s Global Assessment (IGA) ≥ 3, which was greatly reduced than that before treatment (p < 0.05). 5 cases had the adverse reaction of conjunctivitis after treatment, Patient-Oriented Eczema Measure (POEM) score was 4.8 ±1.6, and Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) was scored as 3.3 ±1.8. These were observably lower than those before the patients were treated, exhibiting significant differences (p < 0.05). There were significant reductions in IgE levels, eosinophil count, Th2 cytokines (IL-4 and IL-13), and thymus and activation-regulated chemokine (TARC) after treatment (p < 0.05).

Conclusions:
Dupilumab could effectively treat children with AD and improve their QoL, so it had a clinical application value.