Frequency of atopic dermatitis and psoriasis in the elderly – Cross-sectional findings from the German AugUR study

Introduction Atopic Dermatitis (AD) and psoriasis appear to affect 2-3% (lifetime prevalence) people worldwide. However, there is little epidemiological data on the prevalence of those two chronic inflammatory skin diseases in the elderly. The aim of this study was to provide frequency estimates of AD and psoriasis obtained from an elderly population in Germany. Methods We examined baseline data from the AugUR study, a cohort study focusing on an aging population within the vicinity of Regensburg, Germany (comprising 1,133 participants with a median age of 76.7 years, 45% being female). We estimated raw frequencies of physician-diagnosed AD and psoriasis from participants’ self-reports in personal interviews. These frequencies were adjusted to reflect the demographic distribution of the Bavarian population, considering both gender and age groupings spanning five or ten years. Results Data from 1,133 participants aged 70-95 (45.1% women) were available for analysis. Physician-diagnosed AD was reported by 3.3 % of participants (2.4% from men, 4.3% from women) and 5.6% (95%-CI: 4.3-7.1%) reported physician-diagnosed psoriasis (6.6% in men, 4.3% in women). Age- and gender-standardized frequency estimates for AD were 3.4% (95%-CI: 2.4-4.6, 2.6% in men, 4.3% in women) and 5.3% for psoriasis (95%-CI: 4.1-6.8, 6.3% in men and 4.1% in women). Conclusion This study indicates a lower than previously reported lifetime-prevalence of AD (3.4% vs. 8-10%) and a higher one regarding psoriasis (5.3% vs. 2-4%) in highly aged individuals. More epidemiological research in elderly populations using validated physician diagnoses are desirable.