Venous thromboembolism risk is lower in patients with atopic dermatitis than other immune-mediated inflammatory diseases: A retrospective, observational, comparative cohort study using US claims data

Background Certain immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs) may increase patients’ risk for venous thromboembolisms (VTEs), yet how atopic dermatitis (AD) influences VTE risk remains unclear. Objective Describe VTE incidence in patients with AD compared with other IMIDs and unaffected, AD-matched controls. Methods This retrospective, observational, comparative cohort study used Optum® Clinformatics® United States claims data (2010–2019) of adults with AD, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), Crohn’s disease (CD), ulcerative colitis (UC), psoriasis (PsO), psoriatic arthritis (PsA), or ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Unaffected control patients were matched 1:1 with patients with AD. Results Of 2,061,222 patients with IMIDs, 1,098,633 had AD. Patients with AD had a higher VTE incidence (95% CI) than did unaffected, AD-matched controls (0.73 [0.72–0.74] vs 0.59 [0.58–0.60] cases/100 person-years). When controlling for baseline VTE risk factors, however, AD was not associated with increased VTE risk (HR 0.96 [0.90–1.02]). VTE risk was lower in patients with AD versus RA, UC, CD, AS, or PsA; VTE risk was similar to patients with PsO. Limitations Disease activity and severity were not accounted for. Conclusion AD did not increase VTE risk when accounting for underlying risk factors. AD was associated with lower VTE risk compared with several rheumatologic and gastrointestinal IMIDs.