Atopic dermatitis, other allergic illnesses in children may be inherited from mothers

Key takeaways:

• Children were 59% more likely to have atopic dermatitis if their mothers had atopic dermatitis.
• Similar patterns were observed concerning other allergic illnesses.

Children born to mothers with atopic dermatitis are more prone to develop atopic dermatitis as well as other allergic illnesses, according to a study.

“AD has been associated with other allergic illness (OAI) such as asthma, seasonal allergies and food allergies,” Zelma C. Chiesa Fuxench, MD, MSCE, of the department of dermatology at Perelman School of Medicine at University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues wrote. “AD and these OAI may share a common ‘atopic’ pathophysiology and/or environmental triggers that lead to disease exacerbation and while genetic risk factors and heritability may play a role, there is insufficient data demonstrating a common genetic etiology.”

To evaluate AD’s heritability and association with allergic diseases, the authors compiled a birth-cohort of 1,224,243 child-mother pairs from IQVIA Medical Research Data.

Results showed that children were 59% (HR = 1.59; 95% CI, 1.57-1.6) more likely to have AD if their mothers had AD vs. no AD. The prevalence of AD was higher among children with mothers with AD vs. children with mothers without AD (37.17% vs. 23.24%). The mean age of a child’s first AD diagnosis was 3.32 years (95% CI, 3.3-3.34).

According to the study, similar patterns were observed for children of mothers with OAI such as asthma and food allergies. Children with AD were more likely to have asthma (HR = 2.3; 95% CI, 2.28-2.33), seasonal allergies (HR = 2.65; 95% CI, 2.61-2.68) and food allergies (HR = 4.69; 95% CI, 4.51-4.87) compared with children without AD.

Ninety-one percent of children with any AD diagnosis presented AD first, whereas 6.47% and 2.53% first reported a diagnosis of asthma or seasonal allergies.

The authors concluded that children born to mothers with AD are more likely to be diagnosed with AD as well as OAI. However, the authors hypothesize that OAI may not be part of the atopic march.

“The notion of a sequential atopic march that sees children with AD progressively developing OAI may not be fully accurate,” the authors wrote. “An alternative hypothesis that children with AD are more prone to OAI rather than AD being part of the causal pathway should be considered.”