Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common chronic, inflammatory skin disorder associated with Staphylococcus aureus colonization and reduced microbiota diversity (–3). New treatments are being evaluated using clinical AD scores and skin microbiota composition (–8). Most study designs include the collection of a single sample before and after treatment. The aim of the current evaluation was to analyse inter- and intra-patient variability of the skin microbiota of patients with AD over time to determine whether limited sampling is sufficient to capture the full extent of variability in the skin microbiota.
Keywords: atopic dermatitis; between-person variation; microbiota, Staphylococcus aureus; within-person variation.