Increased Incidence of <scp>COVID</scp> ‐19 Infection in Atopic Dermatitis Patients: A Real‐World Cohort Study With Risk Factor Analysis

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common chronic inflammatory skin condition. COVID-19, a novel coronavirus, sparked a global pandemic in late 2019. The connection between AD and COVID-19 infection remains unclear; moreover, the risk factors for COVID-19 infection among AD patients have not been thoroughly explored. The TriNetX Research Network was used to investigate the association between AD and COVID-19 infection. A logistic regression was used to estimate the odds ratio (OR) between AD and COVID-19 infection. We found that AD patients had a significantly higher odds of COVID-19 infection compared to individuals without AD, regardless of age and sex. For risk factors among AD patients, we found that the younger age group (age ≤ 20 years) had significantly lower odds of COVID-19 infection when compared with old-age groups, while no significant difference in odds of COVID-19 infection between females and males was observed. Hypertension, diabetes mellitus, asthma, ischemic heart disease, and overweight and obesity significantly increased the odds of COVID-19 infection, respectively. AD patients treated by dupilumab resulted in lower odds of COVID-19 infection compared to those treated by methylprednisolone, prednisone, or prednisolone. In conclusion, patients with AD had increased risk of COVID-19 infection across all age groups and sexes. Younger individuals demonstrated higher infection risks. Certain comorbidities further increased the risk of COVID-19 infection in AD patients. Treatment with dupilumab was associated with a lower risk of COVID-19 infection in AD patients.