Takeaway
- This study found a small association between diagnosed atopic eczema and being overweight or obese.
- However, no association was seen between severe atopic eczema and being overweight or obese.
Why this matters
- Findings are largely reassuring for patients with atopic eczema who may already have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
Study design
- This large cross-sectional analysis of a large, population-based cohort included 441,746 patients with atopic eczema and 1,849,722 matched participants without atopic eczema using UK primary care data.
- Funding: Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellowship.
Key results
- After adjusting for age, asthma and socio-economic deprivation, people with atopic eczema had slightly higher odds of being overweight or obese vs those without (OR, 1.08; 95% CI, 1.07-1.09).
- Adjusting for potential mediators (high-dose oral glucocorticoid use, harmful alcohol use, anxiety, depression and smoking) made little difference to the point estimate (OR, 1.07; 95% CI, 1.06-1.08).
- In secondary analysis, after adjusting for age, asthma and socio-economic deprivation:
- mild and moderate atopic eczema was associated with higher odds of being overweight and obese (OR, 1.06; 95% CI, 1.05-1.07 and OR, 1.14; 95% CI, 1.13-1.16, respectively).
- No evidence was found for an association between severe atopic eczema and being overweight or obese (OR, 1.00; 95% CI, 0.96-1.03).
- Women vs men with atopic eczema were slightly more likely to be overweight or obese (OR, 1.09; 95% CI, 1.08-1.10 vs 1.06; 95% CI, 1.04-1.07).
Limitations
- Study did not provide information on temporality.
This clinical summary originally appeared on Univadis, part of the Medscape Professional Network.
