Water hardness and atopic dermatitis in the first year of life in the New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study.

Male sex, birthweight, gestational age, maternal eczema, maternal hay fever, paternal eczema and family history of atopy were all positively correlated with eczema. In the replication "gene-environment" analyses, a family history of eczema was analysed using as a potential modifier of the effect of water hardness on eczema (FLG data were not available). Water hardness is not correlated with infant eczema overall in a naturally soft water area. [Extracted from the article]