Adults with atopic dermatitis face slightly elevated venous thromboembolism risk

Key takeaways:

• Patients with atopic dermatitis showed a small increase in venous thromboembolism risk.
• Deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism risk was also higher in patients with AD.

An increased rate of venous thromboembolism is associated with atopic dermatitis in adults, although that increased risk is small, according to a study.

“Atopic dermatitis in adulthood has been associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases, including myocardial infarction and ischemic stroke,” Tai-Li Chen, MD, of the department of dermatology at Taipei Veterans General Hospital, and colleagues wrote. “Venous thromboembolism (VTE), comprising deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE), is a vascular disease involving blood clot formation. ... Patients with AD were found to have elevated levels of inflammatory and prothrombotic markers, which are also involved in the pathophysiology of VTE.”

Researchers conducted a population-based nationwide cohort study of 284,858 subjects aged 20 years and older in Taiwan. Half of the subjects (n = 142,429; mean age, 44.9 years; 54.91% women) had AD as diagnosed by a dermatologist or rheumatologist. The remaining 142,429 subjects (mean age, 44.1 years; 55.91% women) were matched controls.

A total of 1,066 patients (0.7%) in the AD group developed VTE in the follow-up period, as compared with 829 (0.6%) in the non-AD cohort. This translated to incidence rates of 1.5 and 0.82 per 1,000 person-years in the AD and non-AD cohorts, respectively.

Compared with patients who did not have AD, an increased risk for VTE was found in adult patients with AD (HR = 1.28; 95% CI, 1.17-1.4).

Increased risks for DVT (HR = 1.26; 95% CI, 1.14-1.4) and PE (HR = 1.3; 95% CI, 1.08-1.57) were also observed in the study.

“This cohort study found an overall 1.28-fold increased risk of newly developed VTE among adults with AD,” the authors wrote. “Individual outcome analyses suggested that AD was associated with increased risks for DVT and PE. However, the absolute risk different of VTE between AD and non-AD adults appeared small.”

According to the authors, this study showed evidence that vascular exams and cardiology and pulmonology consultations should be considered for patients with AD with relevant symptoms.