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Mortality lower for patients hospitalized for atopic dermatitis compared with psoriasis

Patients who were hospitalized for atopic dermatitis had a significantly lower 10-year mortality compared with patients hospitalized for psoriasis, but an increased mortality compared with the general population, according to recently published study results.

Researchers used Danish nationwide registers between 1996 and 2002 to study 576 patients hospitalized with atopic dermatitis and 951 patients hospitalized with psoriasis, and 5,760 healthy controls. Cox regression was used to estimate multivariable hazard ratios.

There was a maximum follow-up time of 10 years.

In patients with atopic dermatitis and psoriasis, the two most frequent causes of death were cardiovascular disease and cancer.

There were 65 deaths among patients with atopic dermatitis and 286 deaths among patients with psoriasis during the study period. Patients with atopic dermatitis had a lower unadjusted mortality per 100 person-years compared with those with psoriasis in all age categories.

Patients with atopic dermatitis had a decreased risk for death compared with those with psoriasis (HR = 0.75; 95% CI, 0.57-1), according to multivariable analyses, but a higher risk for death compared with the control subjects, representing the general population (HR = 1.71; 95% CI, 1.2-2.44). Patients who were hospitalized with atopic dermatitis were on average 8.3 years younger at death compared with controls.

Increasing age (HR = 1.06; 95% CI, 1.06-1.07), male sex (HR = 2.03; 95% CI, 1.62-2.54), smoking (HR = 2.23; 95% CI, 1.74-2.86) and number of comorbidities ascertained by the Charles Comorbidity Index (HR = 1.25; 95% CI, 1.16-1.35) were also predictors of death.

“After adjustments for differences in age, sex, socioeconomic status, comorbidity and medication, the risk of death was 25% lower among patients with [atopic dermatitis] compared with psoriasis, but 71% higher than the general population,” the researchers wrote. “These data add to the accumulating evidence about the burden of comorbidities in patients with chronic inflammatory skin disease and emphasize that patients with AD also require careful information about lifestyle risk factors.” – by Bruce Thiel

Disclosure: Egeberg reports receiving research funding and/or consultancy honoraria from Pfizer and Eli Lilly. Please see the full study for the other researchers’ relevant financial disclosures.