Protocol adherence
In the questionnaires, most parents in the IG reported applying
emollient at least once daily in the first 8 weeks; 2 weeks: 89%, 4
weeks: 91.7%, 8 weeks: 86.6% (Table 2). Twice-daily application was
reported by 63.3% at 2 weeks, 69.2% at 4 weeks and 73.1% at 8 weeks.
Of those in the IG with questionnaires at all three time-points (n =
114), 89 (78.1%) reported daily emollient use at all three time-points.
Less than 20% of the CG reported emollient use on ≥4 days per week at
any of the time-points; 19% at 2 weeks, 17.5% at 4 weeks and 13.5% at
8 weeks. Of those in the CG with questionnaires at all time-points (n =
132), 90 (68.2%) reported using emollients on < 4 days per
week at all three time-points. There was no significant difference in
bathing frequency between the groups over the intervention period (See
supplementary data and Supplementary Table 7).
Diaries measuring adherence were returned by 95% (114/120) of the IG
and 82.1% (115/140) of the CG. The mean (SD) age that emollient use
started in the IG was 3.5 (1.5) days and 41.2% (47/114) reported that
they applied emollient at least once on ≥90% of recording days
(>6 days/week). A further 41.2% (47/114) reported
emollient use for ≥75% of recording days (>5 days/week).
Eighty percent (92/115) of the CG applied an emollient on ≤43% of the
recording days (≤3 days a week).
There was no significant difference in the prevalence of regular
emollient use (≥4 days a week) between the groups at 6 and 12 months
(intervention vs. control: 29.6% vs 29.7%, p = 1.000 at 6 months and
28.4% vs. 25.8%, p = 0.868 at 12 months) (See Supplementary data and
Supplementary Table 8).