Likelihood of Hidradenitis Suppurativa Higher Among Patients With Atopic Dermatitis

Although more data is needed to better understand the pathophysiologic mechanism and potential treatment implications, researchers have found that patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) have a higher chance to be diagnosed with hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) compared to patients without AD.

“[HS] and [AD] are both chronic inflammatory skin diseases,” wrote the authors of the study. “An association between these 2 conditions can have important potential implications for elucidating pathogenesis, disease course, and treatment.”

In order to better understand the link between AD and HS, study authors performed a retrospective cohort study. The study included patients seen at Duke University Medical Center from 2007 to 2017. The participants had AD and were compared with a control group without an AD diagnosis. After adjusting for various cofounders, including age, sex, and race, a logistic regression was used to determine the association between AD and HS.

“Of 28,780 patients with an AD diagnosis, 325 (1.1%) were diagnosed with HS compared with 76 (0.2%) within the 48,383 patients in the non-AD group,” the researchers found.

According to the adjusted logistic regression model, an increased odds ratio of having HS diagnosis in the AD group as compared with the control non-AD group (odds ratio: 5.57, 95% confidence interval: 4.30-7.21, P<.001) was identified.

“Patients with AD are more likely to be diagnosed with HS than patients without AD,” the authors concluded.

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