Sodium intake linked to risk for atopic dermatitis

Increased consumption of dietary sodium may increase the risk for atopic dermatitis, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Investigative Dermatology, held May 18 to 21 in Portland, Oregon.

Morgan Ye, M.P.H., from the University of California San Francisco, and colleagues examined the association between sodium intake and atopic dermatitis in a U.S. population-based cohort of 13,183 children and adults identified from the 1999-2000, 2001-2002, and 2003-2004 cycles of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

The researchers found that the average dietary sodium intake was 3.30 g and 6 percent of participants reported current dermatitis at the time of the survey, while 12 percent of participants reported dermatitis in the previous year. A 1-g increase in dietary sodium intake was associated with an increased risk for current dermatitis (adjusted odds ratio, 1.22; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.02 to 1.45) and a nonsignificant increase in the risk for dermatitis in the previous year (adjusted odds ratio, 1.15; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.98 to 1.34), when adjusting for potential confounders, including age, sex, ethnicity, and poverty income ratio.

"These data support salt restriction as a low-cost, safe intervention for atopic dermatitis that could be offered in diverse settings, although additional research is needed using more specific measures of atopic dermatitis in a longitudinal population cohort," the authors write.

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