THURSDAY, March 26, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- Atopic dermatitis (AD) during childhood is not associated with increases in markers of cardiovascular risk, according to a study published online March 24 in JAMA Network Open.
Morgan Ye, M.P.H., from the University of California, San Francisco, and colleagues evaluated whether active and more severe AD across childhood and adolescence are associated with cardiovascular risk at ages 15, 17, and 24 years. The analysis included data from 9,281 participants in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (1991 to 2017).
The researchers found that the prevalence of active AD varied by age and ranged from 13.10 percent to 21.58 percent across ages 3 through 18 years. Among participants with AD, at each age, 3.52 percent to 6.85 percent reported moderate or severe disease. There were no associations between active AD and most cardiovascular risk factors. However, there were associations between AD and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, although they differed in the directionality of association at ages 3 and 10 years (mean difference, −0.33 standard deviations [SDs] for age 3 years versus 0.14 SDs at age 10 years). For AD severity, there was no consistent evidence for dose-response effects. There were also no associations between patterns of more active and severe childhood AD and subclinical atherosclerosis.
"This finding suggests that systematic screening of all children with AD is unlikely to improve identification of early cardiovascular risk," the authors write.
One author disclosed financial ties to the biopharmaceutical industry.