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Multicenter Study
. 2019 Apr;139(4):827-834.
doi: 10.1016/j.jid.2018.10.029. Epub 2018 Nov 8.

Racial/Ethnic Differences in Incidence and Persistence of Childhood Atopic Dermatitis

Yuhree Kim  1 , Maria Blomberg  2 , Sheryl L Rifas-Shiman  3 , Carlos A Camargo Jr  4 , Diane R Gold  5 , Jacob P Thyssen  6 , Augusto A Litonjua  7 , Emily Oken  3 , Maryam M Asgari  8
Affiliations
Multicenter Study

Racial/Ethnic Differences in Incidence and Persistence of Childhood Atopic Dermatitis

Yuhree Kim et al. J Invest Dermatol. 2019 Apr.

Abstract

Although previous studies have explored racial/ethnic differences in incident atopic dermatitis (AD) in childhood, few studies have examined risk factors associated with AD persistence. As such, we sought to examine differences in incidence and persistence of childhood AD by race/ethnicity accounting for sociodemographic characteristics and perinatal vitamin D levels. Using data from Project Viva, a prospective prebirth cohort in eastern Massachusetts, we studied 1,437 mother-child pairs with known AD status to examine the associations of race/ethnicity with maternally reported child AD. We used multivariable logistic regression, adjusting for sociodemographic factors and maternal plasma vitamin D, to estimate adjusted odds ratios (aORs) of AD incidence at early childhood and persistence at mid-childhood. Compared to non-Hispanic whites, non-Hispanic blacks (aOR = 2.71, 95% confidence interval = 1.75-4.19) and other non-Hispanics (aOR = 1.80, 95% confidence interval = 1.16-2.80) were more likely to have incident AD. Non-Hispanic blacks (aOR = 6.26, 95% confidence interval = 2.32-16.88) and Hispanics (aOR = 6.42, 95% CI = 1.93-21.41) with early childhood AD were more likely to have persistent AD. In conclusion, compared with non-Hispanic whites, AD incidence and persistence are higher among certain nonwhite racial/ethnic subgroups. Further research is warranted to identify environmental, socioeconomic, and genetic factors that may be responsible for the observed differences.

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Conflict of interest statement

CONFLICT OF INTEREST: Dr. Asgari has received research funding to her institution from Pfizer Inc. and Valeant Pharmaceuticals, but these associations are unrelated to and not affecting the present study. The authors have no other potential conflicts of interest to disclose.

Figures

Figure 1:
Figure 1:
Unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios of (a) incident and (b) persistent atopic dermatitis
Figure 1:
Figure 1:
Unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios of (a) incident and (b) persistent atopic dermatitis
Figure 2:
Figure 2:
Study population flowchart
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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