Urgent health care use up for adults with concomitant eczema, asthma

Adults with concomitant atopic dermatitis (AD) and asthma have an increased risk for urgent health care use, according to a study published online July 7 in the Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology & Venereology.

Zarqa Ali, from Copenhagen University Hospital Bispebjerg in Denmark, and colleagues examined differences in health care utilization in adults with concomitant AD and asthma versus those with asthma or AD only. Health care utilization data were obtained from two years before to five years after the index date (date of first hospital diagnosis).

Data were included for 12,409 patients with AD (11,590 with AD only; 819 with concomitant AD and asthma) and for 65,539 patients with asthma only. The researchers found that the risk for hospitalization for AD and asthma was increased for adults with concomitant AD and asthma compared with those with only AD or asthma (odds ratios, 1.38 and 1.16, respectively). Fewer visits in outpatient clinics were seen for AD and asthma (odds ratios, 0.10 and 0.34, respectively) for patients with concomitant AD and asthma compared with those with only AD or asthma. Patients with concomitant AD and asthma had more frequent clinic visits for rhinitis than patients with only AD or asthma.

"Individuals with concomitant AD and asthma have higher risk of urgent health care use, that is emergency room visits and hospital admissions indicating that they may be more complicated or more severe," the authors write. "A better understanding of the disease severity and interplay between atopic diseases along with in-depth understanding of the high need for emergency care is warranted."

Several authors disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

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