Atopic eczema is associated with a small but increased risk for incident dementia, according to a study published in the August issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology .

Alexa Magyari, from the University of California Berkeley, and colleagues assessed whether active atopic eczema is associated with incident dementia among 1,767,667 older adults (aged 60 to 99 years) registered with the U.K. Health Improvement Network.

The researchers found that the incidence of dementia was 57 per 10,000 person-years among those with atopic eczema versus 44 per 10,000 person-years in the control group, yielding a 27 percent increased risk for dementia. Findings were similar for vascular dementia and Alzheimer disease. Even after additionally adjusting for the use of systemic corticosteroids, the association remained. The risk was found to be even higher with more severe eczema.

"Patients with atopic eczema in a large, population-based primary care cohort had a small increased risk of incident dementia," the authors write. "Atopic eczema is common among older adults; therefore, future work should investigate the impact of screening patients with atopic eczema for cognitive impairment in older adulthood."

One author disclosed financial ties to TARGET Derm, Pfizer, and Cosmetique Internacional.

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