One year of dust mite immunotherapy eased atopic dermatitis in children

Children with mild-to-moderate atopic dermatitis who are sensitized to dust mites showed meaningful clinical improvement after a year of allergen-specific immunotherapy, according to a retrospective study published in BMC Pediatrics. The open-access paper, released on 26 October 2026, reports that all 66 patients in the cohort completed one year of subcutaneous immunotherapy, and the treatment produced an overall 90% response rate.

The research team, led by Yizhou Zhao, Shuhua Chen and colleagues with Jinhong Wu as corresponding author, analyzed pediatric patients with dust mite-sensitized atopic dermatitis who received subcutaneous immunotherapy. The investigators compared several measures recorded before and after the treatment period: the SCORAD index, which clinicians use to grade the extent and severity of eczema; patient-reported scores for itching and sleep disturbance; the Children’s Dermatology Life Quality Index, a measure of how skin disease affects daily life; peripheral blood eosinophil counts; and serum IgE levels.

After treatment, SCORAD scores, patient-reported pruritus and sleep disturbance scores, and quality-of-life scores all decreased significantly, with statistical significance reported at P<0.05 for each of these outcomes. The reduction was more pronounced in children with moderate atopic dermatitis than in milder cases. In addition to the clinical scores, peripheral blood eosinophil counts and the percentage of eosinophils among blood cells declined notably over the course of therapy.

Allergen-specific immunotherapy is described in the study as the only causal treatment available for pediatric allergic diseases, but its efficacy and mechanisms in atopic dermatitis had remained unclear. The authors conclude that the therapy effectively improves clinical symptoms in pediatric patients with the condition, particularly those with moderate disease, and suggest that its mechanism may be linked to the regulation of eosinophil-related inflammatory pathways. Because the analysis was retrospective and focused on a single cohort of 66 children with dust mite sensitization who completed one year of subcutaneous immunotherapy, the findings describe the outcomes observed in this group rather than results from a randomized controlled trial. The authors note that the study was designed to clarify the therapeutic efficacy and underlying mechanisms of the treatment for this disease, and the reported changes in symptom scores, quality-of-life measures and eosinophil counts form the evidence base for that conclusion.

Subject of Research: Efficacy of subcutaneous dust mite immunotherapy in children with atopic dermatitis

Article Title: Efficacy of specific immunotherapy in children with atopic dermatitis

Article References: Zhao, Y., Chen, S., Lin, J., Chen, L., Zhang, A., Shang, K., Wan, P., Zhang, H., & Wu, J. (2026). Efficacy of specific immunotherapy in children with atopic dermatitis. BMC Pediatrics. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12887-026-07912-1

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s12887-026-07912-1

Keywords: atopic dermatitis, allergen-specific immunotherapy, dust mite sensitization, pediatrics, subcutaneous immunotherapy, SCORAD, eosinophils, IgE, quality of life, retrospective study, BMC Pediatrics, Efficacy