Guy Shalom, Meir Babaev, Khalaf Kridin, Yochai Schonmann, Amir Horev, Jacob Dreiher, Michal Shani, Shmuel Tiosano, Shani Fisher, Doron Comaneshter, Arnon D. Cohen
DOI: 10.2340/00015555-3117

Understanding of the epidemiology and healthcare service utilization related to atopic dermatitis is necessary to inform the use of new treatments. This cross-sectional study was based on a group of patients with atopic dermatitis and a matched control group comprised of age- and sex- matched enrolees without atopic dermatitis from a large medical database. Healthcare service utilization usage data were extracted and compared between groups. The study included 116,816 patients with atopic dermatitis and 116,812 controls. Atopic dermatitis was associated with an increased burden of healthcare utilization across the entire spectrum of healthcare services compared with controls. For patients severely affected by atopic dermatitis, the increased burden correlated with disease severity: a high­er frequency of emergency room visits (odd ratio (OR) 1.7; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.6–1.9), dermatology wards hospitalizations (OR 315; 95% CI 0–7,342), and overall hospitalizations (OR 3.6; 95% CI 3.3–3.9). In conclusion, this study demonstrates an increased burden of healthcare utilization in atopic dermatitis.

Treatment arsenal for atopic dermatitis has expanded dramaticly during last years. To allow the incorporation of the newly introduced, expensive treatments the epidemiology and healthcare service utilization of patients with atopic dermatitis must be defined in a timely manner. We report an increased burden of healthcare utilization across the entire spectrum of healthcare services in a large group of 116,816 patients with atopic dermatitis compared with controls without atopic dermatitis. Increased emergency room visits, hospitalizations in dermatology wards, and overall hospitalizations were found. A dose-response manner according to disease severity was observed.

Table SI