Study Finds No Link Between Tobacco Smoke Exposure and AD

A study of 10,521 individuals followed through adolescence as part of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children found no evidence of a relationship between tobacco smoke exposure (TSE), either active or passive, and atopic dermatitis (AD) during childhood or adolescence.

“Atopic dermatitis and tobacco smoke exposure during childhood and adolescence” was published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology by researchers at The University of California, San Francisco, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

The researchers cited tobacco smoke’s “known effects on humoral and cellular immunity” as background for the study, but after adjusting for confounding factors, no evidence was found of any association.

"Although we did not observe a meaningful association between passive or active tobacco smoke exposure and AD, it is critical to reiterate the other innumerable adverse health effects associated with tobacco smoke exposure, especially among developing children and adolescents," the authors wrote. "Our results suggest that tobacco smoke is not an important driver of AD in a large UK birth cohort. Furthermore, our findings highlight the importance of adjusting for socioeconomic status and accounting for both the level of tobacco smoke exposure and the activity and severity of AD in longitudinal analyses."

Source: Al-Alusi N, et al. Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. 2024. Doi:10.1016/j.jacig.2024.100345