A recent retrospective cohort study published in the latest issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology showed that venous thromboembolism (VTE) risk among patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) was lower than that of other immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs).

The researchers used administrative claims data from 2010 to 2019 and included over 2 million patients diagnosed with AD, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), psoriasis (PsO), psoriatic arthritis (PsA), or ankylosing spondylitis (AS) in the study, alongside matched controls.

According to the study results, patients with AD had a lower VTE risk compared to patients with RA, IBD, PsO, PsA, and AS, while showing similar risk to PsO patients. The authors observed a slightly elevated VTE risk in AD patients when compared to controls, but this diminished when adjusting for underlying VTE risk factors (HR 0.96 [0.90-1.02]).

"Our study provides insight into the absolute risk for VTE among patients with AD, the relative risk for VTE among patients with AD versus other IMIDs, and the influence of confounders on VTE risk," the researchers wrote in the study. "VTE risk was lower in patients with AD compared with those diagnosed with RA, UC, CD, AS, or PsA. The generally lower prevalence of VTE risk factors in patients with AD versus other IMIDs may contribute to the lower VTE incidence for patients with AD. These results may help inform shared decision-making between physicians and their patients with AD, particularly regarding the potential for increased VTE risk with JAK inhibitor use. Future prospective studies are needed to elucidate how disease severity and activity influence VTE risk."

Source: Merola J, et al. Journal of the American Academy Dermatology. 2024. Doi: 10.1016/j.jaad.2023.12.027