The following is a summary of “Venous thromboembolism risk is lower in patients with atopic dermatitis than other immune-mediated inflammatory diseases: A retrospective, observational, comparative cohort study using US claims data,” published in the May 2024 issue of Dermatology by Merola, et al.

While certain immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs) are known to elevate the risk of venous thromboembolisms (VTEs), the influence of atopic dermatitis (AD) on VTE risk remained unclear. For a retrospective, observational, comparative cohort study, researchers sought to characterize VTE incidence in patients with AD compared to those with other IMIDs and unaffected, AD-matched controls.

Utilizing Optum Clinformatics United States claims data from 2010 to 2019, adults diagnosed with AD, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), Crohn’s disease (CD), ulcerative colitis (UC), psoriasis (PsO), psoriatic arthritis (PsA), or ankylosing spondylitis (AS) were included. Unaffected control patients were matched 1:1 in patients with AD.

Among 2,061,222 patients with IMIDs, 1,098,633 had AD. Patients with AD exhibited a higher VTE incidence (95% CI) compared to unaffected, AD-matched controls (0.73 [0.72-0.74] versus 0.59 [0.58-0.60] cases/100 person-years). However, after adjusting for baseline VTE risk factors, AD did not demonstrate an association with increased VTE risk (HR 0.96 [0.90-1.02]). Furthermore, VTE risk was lower in patients with AD compared to those with RA, UC, CD, AS, or PsA, while being similar to patients with PsO.

AD did not independently elevate VTE risk when accounting for underlying risk factors. Notably, AD was associated with a lower risk of VTE compared to several rheumatologic and gastrointestinal IMIDs.

Reference: jaad.org/article/S0190-9622(23)03400-X/fulltext