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Psychiatric comorbidity in adult eczema
Author(s) -
Schmitt J.,
Romanos M.,
Pfennig A.,
Leopold K.,
Meurer M.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
british journal of dermatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.304
H-Index - 179
eISSN - 1365-2133
pISSN - 0007-0963
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2133.2009.09309.x
Subject(s) - comorbidity , medicine , odds ratio , psychiatry , confounding , psychiatric comorbidity , confidence interval , logistic regression
Summary Background Atopic eczema (AE) is a common dermatological condition that causes significant problems in everyday life and high levels of illness‐related stress in substantial proportions of patients. The extent to which adult AE is associated with clinically relevant psychiatric morbidity is unclear. Objectives To investigate the association between adult AE and major psychiatric/psychosomatic disorders. Methods Case–control study utilizing the GKV database Saxony, an interdisciplinary administrative outpatient database from Germany. All patients documented as having AE at least twice within the study period (2003–2004) ( n = 3769, mean age 44 years) were individually matched by age and sex to 3769 controls without AE. Logistic regression models were fitted to investigate the relationship of AE with affective, stress‐related, behaviour and schizophrenic disorders, considering sociodemographic characteristics, consulting behaviour and allergic comorbidities as potential confounding factors. Results Eczema was independently associated with affective [adjusted odds ratio (OR) 1·42, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1·13–1·79], stress‐related (OR 1·55, 95% CI 1·35–1·77), behaviour (OR 1·52, 95% CI 1·03–2·23) and schizophrenic disorders (OR 2·12, 95% CI 1·22–3·71). For each psychiatric condition the likelihood of being affected significantly increased with each physician visit due to AE, suggesting that the risk of psychiatric comorbidity increases with the severity of AE. Conclusions This study indicates psychiatric comorbidity of adults with AE. Collaboration between dermatologists and mental health specialists may optimize medical care for a significant subgroup of patients with AE.