TUESDAY, July 28, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- The psychological burden of atopic dermatitis (AD) seems strongest in children and adolescents, according to a review published online July 6 in Frontiers in Public Health.
Hongli Wang, from the Beijing Institute of Chinese Medicine, and colleagues conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine whether the association between AD and psychological comorbidities differs across developmental stages. Random-effects models were used to calculate pooled effect estimates (hazard ratios from cohort/case-control studies and odds ratios from cross-sectional studies). The meta-analysis included cohort, cross-sectional, and case-control studies (28 in total).
The researchers found that compared with adults, numerically higher risk estimates were seen for depression, anxiety, and suicidality among children and adolescents with AD. For depression, the pooled hazard ratio from cohort studies was 2.16 versus 1.32 in youth versus adults; similarly, the pooled odds ratio from cross-sectional studies was 2.79 versus 1.61 in youth versus adults. For anxiety, a similar pattern was observed. In addition, the risk for suicide was elevated in younger patients relative to adults.
"Our findings suggest that children and adolescents with atopic dermatitis may have a higher risk of common psychological comorbidities such as depression and anxiety than adults, but the substantial heterogeneity across studies limits the certainty of this conclusion," the authors write. "Overall, these results should be interpreted cautiously."
