Atopic Dermatitis More Common in Adults with Multiple Autoimmune Diseases

Celiac.com 01/04/2021 - Researchers have long known that the common chronic skin disorder atopic dermatitis is associated with other atopic conditions. A growing body of evidence supports a connection with non-atopic conditions, including autoimmune diseases, such as celiac disease, but data are limited with respect to autoimmune conditions. To remedy the situation, a research team recently examined the connection between atopic dermatitis and autoimmune diseases.

The research team included L.U. Ivert, C.F. Wahlgren, B. Lindelöf, H. Dal, M. Bradley, and E.K. Johansson. They are variously affiliated with the Dermatology and Venereology Unit, Department of Medicine Solna, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden; the unit of Dermatology, Theme Inflammation and Infection, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden; the Theme Cancer unit, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden; and the Dermatological and Venereal Clinic, Södersjukhuset, Stockholm, Sweden.

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For their case–controlled study, the team looked at the Swedish national healthcare registers, and looked at data from the entire Swedish population, aged 15 years or younger, from 1968 to 2016. 

The researchers matched all atopic dermatitis cases by sex and age to healthy controls; including cases with an inpatient diagnosis of atopic dermatitis from 1968, and/or a specialist outpatient diagnosis of atopic dermatitis from 2001. In all, the team found 104,832 cases of atopic dermatitis, and matched them to 1,022,435 control subjects.

Adults with multiple autoimmune diseases were more likely to develop atopic dermatitis than those with just one autoimmune disease. The associations were especially strong between atopic dermatitis and autoimmune dermatological, gastrointestinal and rheumatological diseases. 

The study was funded by the Swedish Asthma and Allergy Association Research Foundation, Hudfonden (The Welander‐Finsen Foundation), and The Swedish Society for Dermatology and Venereology. The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

These results invite further study of the relationship between atopic dermatitis and autoimmune conditions, such as celiac disease.

Read more in the British Journal of Dermatology