Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Dermatology, Afzalipour Hospital, Afzalipour Faculty of Medicine, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran

2 Leishmaniasis Research Center, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran

Abstract

Background: Atopic dermatitis is a chronic relapsing inflammatory
skin disease that has possible associations with other diseases such
as allergic conditions, autoimmune skin diseases, and systemic
diseases. We evaluated the prevalence of alopecia areata and
thyroid autoimmunity in children with atopic dermatitis.
Methods: This was a cross-sectional study on 124 children
(62 children with atopic dermatitis and 62 healthy children).
Demographic features of the participants and duration of disease
in children with atopic dermatitis were recorded. Antithyroid
peroxidase and thyroid stimulating hormone were evaluated in
both groups. Odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI)
were calculated to estimate relative risk. The chi-squared test
and analysis of variance test (ANOVA) were used to evaluate
the association of thyroid autoimmunity with the demographic
and clinical features of patients.
Results: Thyroid autoimmunity was only detected in atopic
dermatitis children and not in the control group, and the difference
was statistically significant [OR = 4.32, 95% CI = 2.15–10.81,
P = 0.04). Furthermore, overt thyroid disease was significantly
more common in the atopic dermatitis group compared with
the control group (OR = 4.46, 95% CI = 1.15–17.24, P = 0.03). A
personal history of alopecia areata was also significantly more
common in the atopic dermatitis group (OR = 4.46, CI = 1.17–15.29,
P = 0.030). In addition, there was no significant difference between
thyroid autoimmunity and overt thyroid disease in the patients’
severity of atopic dermatitis and demographic features (P > 0.05).
Conclusion: Patients with atopic dermatitis had a significantly
higher percentage of thyroid autoimmunity, overt thyroid disease,
and alopecia areata than the control group.

Keywords