Atopic dermatitis in adults tied to increased risk of systemic infections

The risk of systemic infections is elevated among adults with hospital-managed atopic dermatitis (AD), a recent study has found.

The authors conducted this nationwide register-based cohort study including all Danish adults from 1995 through 2017 to determine whether adults with AD had increased risk of developing systemic infections leading to hospital-based management. They estimated hazard ratios (HRs) with 95 percent confidence intervals (CIs) using Cox models.

A total of 10,602 adults with AD (median age, 29.8 years; interquartile range, 22.6–44.8) and 106,020 reference individuals were included in the analysis. The overall incidence rate per 10,000 person-years of systemic infections among adults with AD was 180.6 (95 percent CI, 172.6–189.0) compared with 120.4 (95 percent CI, 118.3–122.5) among reference individuals.

AD was significantly associated with systemic infections, particularly  musculoskeletal (adjusted HR, 1.81, 95 percent CI, 1.42–2.31), heart (adjusted HR, 1.75, 95 percent CI, 1.21–2.53), and upper (adjusted HR, 1.42, 95 percent CI, 1.15–1.73) and lower respiratory tract infections (adjusted HR, 1.21, 95 percent CI, 1.10–1.33). There was also an increase in the risk of sepsis (adjusted HR, 1.19, 95 percent CI, 1.01–1.144) and skin infections (adjusted HR, 2.30, 95 percent CI, 2.01–2.62).

However, “[t]he findings cannot be generalized to adults with milder AD seen outside the hospital system,” the authors said.