Study design
Short-term Topical Application to Prevent Atopic Dermatitis (STOP AD) was a single-centre, two-armed randomized control trial that postnatally recruited newborn infants at high-risk of AD. Recruitment took place between April 2019 and November 2020 in Cork University Maternity Hospital (CUMH). Parents gave written informed consent prior to participation. Term infants were identified as high-risk if they had at least one parent with a history of AD, asthma or allergic rhinitis. Exclusion criteria were: pre-term infant (born <37 weeks), admission to the neonatal unit for issues other than feeding, receipt of antibiotics in the maternity hospital, phototherapy, sibling already recruited, other serious health conditions, severe widespread skin condition or any condition that would make the emollient use inadvisable or not possible (e.g. ankle talipes or hip dysplasia). The study was conducted in accordance with the Helsinki Declaration and was approved by the Clinical Research Ethics Committee of the Cork Teaching Hospitals [ref ECM 5 (2) 18/12/18].