A study found that patients with atopic dermatitis, a chronic skin disease, have a higher risk of contracting skin infections. In particular, there is a high risk of developing a contagious water wart known as water wart, and it appears that it occurs approximately two and a half months after diagnosis of atopic dermatitis, so special attention is required for secondary skin infection.
The Department of Dermatology, Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital, Catholic University of Korea, Prof. Lee Ji-hyun (co-corresponding author) ‧ Han Ju-hee (co-first author), and Professor Seok-jun Lee (co-corresponding author) and Researcher Jae-woong Yoon (co-first author) of Kwangwoon University’s School of Business, conducted sequential correlation analysis (SPM) in collaboration with the research team. We analyzed the relationship between atopic dermatitis and skin infection in an actual medical environment using
According to previous studies, it is known that patients with atopic dermatitis have an abnormality in epidermal function or systemic immune function, or the risk of skin infections increases due to a decrease in antibacterial peptides, a biological defense material.
The research team used SPM to analyze the national health insurance data from 2010 to 2013. Among 70,205 patients with atopic dermatitis, the accompanying skin infection was identified and the time of onset of the skin infection was confirmed.
As a result of multiple regression analysis (statistical analysis), compared to healthy controls, patients with atopic dermatitis had contagious warts 5.273 times, impetigo 2.852 times, chickenpox 2.251 times, otitis media 1.748 times, eczema herpes (herpetic dermatitis) 1.292 times, and viruses. The risk of wart infection was 1.105 times higher.
In the SPM analysis, the infectious disease accompanying atopic dermatitis had the highest prevalence at 1.06%, and it was observed as the shortest onset of infection after an average of 77.42 days after the diagnosis of atopic dermatitis.
Professor Han Joo-hee said, “This study suggests that atopic dermatitis is associated with an increased risk of skin infections. In particular, caution is required because it is highly related to impetigo, infectious mucous membranes, and otitis media, and it will be helpful to prevent atopic dermatitis from worsening through proper prevention and management of skin infections.”
Professor Lee Ji-hyeon said, “Atopic dermatitis is a chronic disease that improves during treatment and recurs again when treatment is stopped. In particular, since the skin infections accompanying atopic dermatitis patients are more extensive and more severe than healthy people, it is difficult to treat them. It is important to receive treatment on a regular basis to prevent this from happening.”
The results of this study were published in the June issue of the ‘Journal of Clinical Medicine’ (5-Year Impact Factor: 5.098).