J Korean Med Sci.  2017 Aug;32(8):1360-1366. 10.3346/jkms.2017.32.8.1360.

Clinical Features of Atopic Dermatitis in Adults Are Different according to Onset

• Son JH
• Chung BY
• Kim HO
• Park CW

• KMID: 2439472
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2017.32.8.1360

Abstract

Few studies of atopic dermatitis (AD) in adult patients have evaluated differences in clinical features of AD according to onset age. We aimed to characterize the clinical features of AD in adult patients according to age of onset. Subjects with AD outpatient visiting the Department of Dermatology at Kangnam Sacred Heart Hospital were recruited for this study. A dermatologist conducted clinical evaluation, a survey of demographics, and onset of AD-associated signs and symptoms for each participant. Total immunoglobulin E (IgE) was also tested. A total of 280 adult AD patients were enrolled, among which 232 patients (82.86%) showed pre-adult-onset (age < 18 years) and 48 patients (17.14%) had adult-onset (age ≥ 18 years) of AD. There were significant differences between the 2 groups in the area of initial involvement (P = 0.017) and in treatment history (P = 0.010). Interestingly, patients with body mass index (BMI) ≥ 25 showed significantly higher Eczema Area and Severity Index (EASI) scores than did patients with BMI < 25 in the pre-adult-onset adult AD group (P = 0.048). On the other hand, there were no significant differences in sex, family history, BMI, EASI, and total IgE between patients with pre-adult-onset AD and patients with adult-onset AD. Our findings suggest that, even though many common features exist, there are significant differences between the clinical characteristics of pre-adult-onset and adult-onset AD subgroups, in adult patients with AD.

Keyword

Atopic Dermatitis; Age of Onset; Clinical Feature

MeSH Terms

Adult*
Age of Onset
Body Mass Index
Demography
Dermatitis, Atopic*
Dermatology
Eczema
Hand
Heart
Humans
Immunoglobulin E
Immunoglobulins
Outpatients
Immunoglobulin E
Immunoglobulins

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1 Association between BMI and EASI score in pre-adult-onset adult AD. In pre-adult-onset adult AD, there was a significant association between obesity (BMI ≥ 25) and EASI score by simple linear regression analysis (R2 = 0.028; 2.8%; β = 0.167; P = 0.021). BMI = body mass index, EASI = Eczema Area and Severity Index, AD = atopic dermatitis.

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