Introduction:

Maternal stress, depression and anxiety are associated with atopic dermatitis (AD) in offspring. However, the relationship between maternal obsessive compulsive symptoms (OCS) and AD in their children is unclear.

Aim:

To investigate whether maternal OCS are associated with AD in offspring.

Material and methods:

A total of 75 children with AD diagnosed by the paediatric allergist and 76 healthy children and their mothers were included in the study. A Turkish version of the Maudsley Obsessive Compulsive Inventory (MOCI-T) was used to assess OCS of mothers in both groups.

Results:

Total MOCI-T score and slowness, doubt, and rumination subscale scores were higher in the AD group than in the healthy group (p = 0.007, p = 0.001, p = 0.012 and p = 0.011, respectively) but washing/cleaning and checking subscale scores did not reach a statistically significant difference (p = 0.203 and p = 0.053, respectively). There was no correlation between SCORing Atopic Dermatitis (SCORAD) and MOCI-T/subscales scores.

Conclusions:

Our study provides evidence for associations between maternal OCS and infantile AD. The findings support recommendations for psychosocial support of mothers of children with AD.