Venous Thromboembolism Risk Lower in AD Patients: Analysis

Risk for VTE was similar to that of patients with psoriasis, according to researchers.

A retrospective, observational analysis in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology showed that patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) do not have an increased risk for venous thromboembolism (VTE) compared with other immune-mediated inflammatory diseases. 

The analysis compared VTE incidence in patients with AD compared with unaffected, AD-matched controls. The researchers used Optum^® Clinformatics^® United States claims data (2010–2019) of adults with AD, rheumatoid arthritis, Chron's disease, ulcerative colitis, psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, or ankylosing spondylitis and matched them 1:1 to patients with AD. 

According to the results, out of a total of 2,061,222 patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases, 1,098,633 were patients with AD. The analysis revealed that patients with AD had higher rates of VTE incidence than unaffected AD-matched controls. After adjustment for baseline VTE risk factors, however, the data indicated that AD was not associated with increased risk for VTE (HR, 0.96 [0.90-1.02]). The researchers also reported that VTE risk was lower for every immune-mediated inflammatory disease except for psoriasis, for which the risk was comparable in patients with AD. 

"Atopic dermatitis did not increase VTE risk when accounting for underlying risk factors," the authors wrote. "Atopic dermatitis was associated with lower VTE risk compared with several rheumatologic and gastrointestinal immune-mediated inflammatory diseases."