Prevalence of Atopic Dermatitis in the adolescent population of
Catalonia (Spain).
Abstract
Background: Studies on the prevalence of Atopic Dermatitis (AD)
for the adolescent cohort in general-based large populations are scarce
worldwide. We performed a retrospective population-based observational
cohort study of 76,665 adolescent patients diagnosed with AD in
Catalonia (Spain). We study the prevalence of AD by age, gender, disease
severity, comorbidities, and serum total Immunoglobin E (tIgE) and
appropriate medical treatment (AMT) for the Catalan population.
Methods: Adolescent individuals (12-17y) diagnosed with AD by
medical records at different health care levels (primary, hospital,
emergency) from the Catalan Health System (CHS) were included.
Statistical analyses evaluated sociodemographic characteristics,
prevalence, comorbidities, serum tIgE and AMT. Results: The
overall diagnosed AD prevalence in the adolescent Catalan population
(76,665) was 16.9%, being higher for the non-severe (16.7%) than for
the severe (0.2%) populations. Topical corticosteroids were the most
prescribed drug (49.5%), and the use of all prescribed treatments was
higher in severe AD patients, especially systemic corticosteroids
(49.7%) and immunosuppressants (45.4%). AD patients had, on average, a
serum tIgE of 163.6 KU/L, which was higher for the severe than the
non-severe disease (155.5 KU/L vs 101.9 KU/L, respectively). Allergic
rhinitis (15.0%) and asthma (13.5%) were among the most frequent
comorbid respiratory and allergy diseases. Conclusions: This is
the first Spanish study reporting the overall diagnosed prevalence for a
large-scale adolescent (12 to 17 years old) cohort from Catalonia. It
provides new and robust evidence of AD’s prevalence and related
characteristics in this region.