Key clinical point: Over 20 years of evidence indicates an increased incidence of hospitalizations among patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) in the United States, mainly attributed to increased burden of medical comorbidities rather than AD itself, highlighting the need for increased screening and management of comorbidities.
Major finding: The number of hospitalizations among patients with AD increased from 1.0 to 2.3 per 100,000 persons from 1998 to 2018 (adjusted P-trend less than .0001). However, the proportion of hospitalizations with AD as the principal diagnosis reduced from 11.5% in 1998 to 3.7% in 2018 ( adjusted P-trend = .001). A higher proportion of patients reported Charlson Comorbidity Index score of 3 or higher in 2018 vs 1998 (27.8% vs 10.5%; adjusted P-trend less than .0001).
Study details: Findings are from a longitudinal study including 23,410 adults hospitalized with any form of AD between 1998 and 2018.
Disclosures: The study did not report any source of funding. No conflict of interests was reported.
Source: Edigin E et al. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2021 Jul 9. doi: 10.1016/j.jaad.2021.06.882 .