Risk of epilepsy among patients with atopic dermatitis: A nationwide longitudinal study. Issue 8 (10th June 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Chen, Mu‐Hong; Wu, Yi‐Hui; Su, Tung‐Ping; Chen, Ying‐Sheue; Hsu, Ju‐Wei; Huang, Kai‐Lin; Li, Cheng‐Ta; Lin, Wei‐Chen; Chang, Wen‐Han; Chen, Tzeng‐Ji; Bai, Ya‐Mei
• Is Part Of: Epilepsia. Volume 55:Issue 8(2014:Aug.)
• Page Start: 1307
• Page End: 1312
• Publication Date: 2014-06-10
• Subjects: Epilepsy -- Periodicals; 616.853
• DOI: 10.1111/epi.12667
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0013-9580

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" id="epi12667-abs-0001"> <title>Summary</title> <sec id="epi12667-sec-0001" sec-type="section"> <title>Objective</title> <p>Both atopic dermatitis and epilepsy have been regarded as chronic inflammatory diseases. However, their association has yet to be investigated.</p> </sec> <sec id="epi12667-sec-0002" sec-type="section"> <title>Methods</title> <p>Using the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database, 35, 312 patients with atopic dermatitis but without a history of epilepsy, and 35, 312 age‐/gender‐matched controls were enrolled between 1998 and 2008, and followed to the end of 2011 to identify the development of epilepsy.</p> </sec> <sec id="epi12667-sec-0003" sec-type="section"> <title>Results</title> <p>Subjects with atopic dermatitis had a higher incidence of developing epilepsy (0.94 vs. 0.27/1, 000 person‐years, p < 0.001) than the control group. The Cox regression model showed that atopic dermatitis increased the risk of developing epilepsy (hazard ratio [HR] 2.91, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.23–3.82) after adjusting for demographic data and medical comorbidities. Sensitivity tests showed consistent findings (HR 2.32, 95% CI 1.68–2.96) after excluding the first year of observation. In addition, asthma (HR 1.34, 95% CI 1.04–1.72) and allergic rhinitis (HR 1.34, 95% CI 1.04–1.73) were related to the risk of epilepsy.</p> </sec> <sec id="epi12667-sec-0004" sec-type="section"> <title>Significance</title> <p>Subjects with atopic dermatitis were associated with an increased risk of developing epilepsy in later life. Further studies would be needed to investigate the underlying mechanisms.</p> <p>A PowerPoint slide summarizing this article is available for download in the Supporting Information section <ext-link ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/epi.12667/supinfo" xlink:type="simple" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">here</ext-link>.</p> </sec> </abstract>