In reply
We thank Drs Uter, Pfahlberg, and Gefeller for examining their extensive data from 6-year-old children for the relation between eczema and nevus counts. We suggest the differences between our study results may be owing to (1) the different age and locations of the populations and (2) the different mole counting methods used in the 2 studies.
Mole counts may be dependent on the age and location of the population studied, especially in young children.1 The children examined in the study by Uter et al were twice the age of the children we examined (6 vs 3 years old). Furthermore, children in Colorado may be exposed to higher levels of UV light than the children in the study by Uter et al owing to altitude and climate differences, which would be expected to result in greater numbers of nevi.