No significant difference seen in mean POEM score for weekly versus daily bathing over four weeks
By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter
FRIDAY, Nov. 14, 2025 (HealthDay News) — For people with eczema, symptoms do not differ with weekly versus daily bathing, according to a study published online Nov. 9 in the British Journal of Dermatology.
Lucy Bradshaw, from the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom, and colleagues compared the impact of weekly versus daily bathing in people with eczema in a pragmatic superior randomized controlled trial. A total of 438 people with self-reported eczema aged 1 year or older were randomly allocated to the weekly bathing group (bath or shower once or twice a week) or the daily bathing group (at least six times per week) for four weeks (218 and 220 participants, respectively). The primary outcome was participant-reported eczema symptoms collected weekly using the Patient-Orientated Eczema Measure (POEM; range, 0 to 28).
The primary analysis including 195 and 193 participants allocated to daily bathing and weekly bathing, respectively, who completed at least one follow-up questionnaire. The researchers found that at baseline, one, two, three, and four weeks, the mean POEM scores were 14.5, 11.7, 12.2, 11.7, and 11.6, respectively, in the daily bathing group, and 14.9, 12.1, 11.3, 10.5, and 10.6, respectively, in the weekly bathing group. Over four weeks, the adjusted difference in mean POEM score for weekly versus daily bathing was −0.4 (95 percent confidence interval, −1.3 to 0.4; P = 0.30). There were no reports of serious unintended effects or harms.
“The findings of our study are great news for people living with eczema. It means they can choose a frequency of bathing that suits them,” Bradshaw said in a statement.
One author disclosed ties to AbbVie.
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