Cross-sectional case-control study finds increased healthcare utilization in children with atopic dermatitis, suggesting systemic medications may be needed.
Background: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic inflammatory disease requiring topical and systemic treatments. This study examines healthcare service utilization and medication use in children with AD in a large healthcare organization during the year 2024. Methods: A cross-sectional case-control study was conducted comparing 128,239 children with AD to 128,239 matched controls regarding healthcare utilization and medication use. Multivariate analysis assessed differences between the groups. Results: Children with AD had increased healthcare utilization compared to the control group, with higher rates of visits to pediatricians, general practitioners, and dermatologists. A total of 144 children (0.11%) with AD were treated by immunosuppressive drugs, as compared to 78 children (0.06%) in the control group (OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.4–2.4, p-value < 0.001). A total of 410 children (0.32%) were treated with biologic drugs as compared to 12 children (0.01%) in the control group (OR 34.3, 95% CI 19.3–60.9, p-value < 0.001). A total of 34 children (0.03%) were treated with Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors as compared to 2 children (0.002%) in the control group (OR 17, 95% CI 4.1–70.8, p-value < 0.001). Conclusions: Increased utilization of healthcare services was observed in pediatric patients with AD compared to the control group. As only a small proportion of the children with AD received immunosuppressants, biologic treatments, and JAK inhibitors, we suggest that the use of systemic medications should be strongly considered in pediatric patients with moderate to severe AD.
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Cohen et al. (2025) studied this question.
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