Early application of emollients to infants at high-risk for atopic dermatitis seems to be effective for preventing the development of eczema, according to findings.

Researchers from Urumqi, China, conducted a network meta-analysis to compare different emollients for preventing infant atopic dermatitis.

Data were included for 11 studies and three types of emollients were compared: cream, emulsion, and mixed types in the research in the Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology.

The researchers found that early application of emollients effectively prevented atopic dermatitis development in high-risk infants based on direct meta-analysis (risk ratio, 0.64).