People with eczema are being invited to take part in a new study about bathing.
The ‘Bathing study’ has been chosen and developed by people living with eczema, in partnership with researchers from University of Nottingham and Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust. The research is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research.
The Eczema Bathing Study will answer the question: “Is it better to have a bath or shower ‘daily’ or ‘weekly’ when you have eczema?” A commonly asked question that has not yet been answered by research.
Children and adults can join the four-week study by signing up at www.RapidEczemaTrials.org/Eczema-Bathing-Study.
Those joining the study will be asked to give information about their eczema and how they usually take a bath or a shower. They will then be put into one of two groups by a computer. One group will be asked to have a bath or shower no more than once or twice a week. The other group will be asked to have a bath or shower six or more times a week. People will be asked to follow this advice for four weeks. They will be asked to complete some questions, sent to them by email or text message each week.
People with eczema aged one year or older can join the study. They can take part from home and do not need to travel.
“It will be great to know how frequency of washing impacts eczema skin and I am looking forward to participating in this short, simple trial to find out the answer.”
-Amanda Robert, co-lead for the study and member of the public with eczema
The Eczema Bathing Study is part of a wider project – the Rapid Eczema Trials research project – that aims to answer important questions on how to manage eczema. The Rapid Eczema Trials citizen science project is building an Eczema Citizen Science Community that with work together to design and run a series of online research studies. People will be encouraged to join the community from across the UK. The research team is hoping to involve thousands of people over the five-year life span of the project and are particularly keen for people to get involved who might think that research is not for them.
Kim Thomas, Professor of Applied Dermatology research & Co-Director of the Centre of Evidence Based Dermatology at the University of Nottingham, said: “How often to have a bath or shower is a fundamental aspect of eczema self-care. It is a question that people with eczema often ask their care providers. The Rapid Eczema Trials project will answer simple, practical questions like this.
“It is a rare privilege to be able to work so closely with members of the public to design and run research studies. We hope to answer many of the questions asked by people with eczema over the next few years.”
The Rapid Eczema trials research project is led by researchers at the University of Nottingham and Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, and is being delivered in collaboration with another four UK Universities (Southampton, Bristol, Birmingham City, Imperial) and the Nottingham Clinical Trials Unit.
More information on how to sign up for the study can be found here.
