Children With Atopic Dermatitis (AD) Have a High Burden of Atopic Comorbidities: Results From a Large Worldwide Survey

Recent information on the prevalence of atopic comorbidities among children with AD is lacking. This worldwide survey describes the burden of atopic comorbidities across AD severity strata. This cross-sectional, web-based survey of children aged 0.5–<18years was conducted in 18 countries (5 regions), with quotas for age, sex, region (urban/rural split), and weighting adjustment applied for representative population for each country. Parents (children ≥12yrs) were asked whether the child had ever suffered from hay fever/asthma or been diagnosed with atopic comorbidities. Results were stratified by parent/patient global assessment (PtGA) of AD severity and POEM in the past week. Among 7465 included children, 92.5% reported ≥1 atopic comorbidity (84.7% in Europe [n=2700]; 87.6% in Asia [n=743]; 88.5% in North America [n=980]; 95.9% in Latin America [n=1959]; 98.1% in Eurasia/Middle-East [n=1083]). Atopic comorbidities tended to increase slightly with increasing age (90.0% with ≥1 comorbidity for 0.5–5yrs; 92.0% for 6–11yrs; 94.1% for 12–<18yrs). Overall, 4478, 2722, and 376 (weighted-base) reported clear/mild, moderate, and severe AD (by PtGA), respectively, in the past week; 90.9%, 94.5%, and 97.5%, respectively, reported ≥1 atopic comorbidity, mostly hay fever (64.4%, 73.5%, 83.3%), asthma (51.0%, 65.5%, 77.9%), seasonal allergies (41.7%, 51.4%, 53.5%), and allergic rhinitis (41.3%, 50.2%, 52.2%). Similar results were observed when stratified by POEM; 13.7% (overall) had chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps and 3.5% had eosinophilic esophagitis. Worldwide, children with AD have a high burden of self-reported atopic comorbidities. The burden was high even among those with clear/mild AD, increasing further with AD severity