The association between cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes in adults with atopic dermatitis: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Recent studies examining the association between atopic dermatitis (AD) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) and type 2 diabetes have shown inconsistent results. We compared the risk of CVD and diabetes between adult patients with and without AD by searching the Pubmed, Embase, and Web of Science databases. Data extraction was done by two independent reviewers. We found a total of 2,855 citations, of which 53 were considered relevant based on title and abstract. Sixteen publications were included in the qualitative analysis, of which 13 were also included in a quantitative meta-analysis of crude data. No association was observed between AD and unspecified, but suspected type 2, diabetes (pooled odds ratio [OR] 1.11; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.87-1.42), hypertension (pooled OR 1.16; 95% CI 0.98-1.37), stroke (pooled OR 1.15; 95% CI 0.95-1.39) or myocardial infarction (pooled OR 1.14; 95% CI 0.83-1.56), but a positive association was observed with angina pectoris (OR 1.73; 95% CI 1.27-2.37). Meta-analysis on adjusted data gave similar results. While adults with AD in some populations have increased prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors, such as obesity and smoking, it is unlikely that AD represents an independent and clinically relevant risk factor for cardiometabolic disease.

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