Atopic Dermatitis and its Correlation with Eosinophil Count and Serum IgELevels-A Case Control Study

Introduction:Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic, highly pruritic inflammatory skin disease, and is one of the most common skin disorders in children. The main immunological abnormalities are excessive formation of IgE with a predisposition to anaphylactic sensitivity, some decrease in susceptibility to delayed hypersensitivity, abnormalities in expression of surface molecules in antigen presenting cells, and dysregulation of cytokine mediators. This study was conducted to demonstrate positive correlation of the severity of atopic dermatitis with the absolute eosinophil count and serum IgE levels.Materials and Methods:It was a hospital-based case-control, non-interventional study that was conducted in the department of dermatology of a tertiary care hospital over a period of 18 months.Total 61 patients of endogenous eczema were studied. The statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) for Windows version (16.0) was used to analyse the data (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL). Statistical significance was declared at p <0.05 or mentioned otherwise.Results:Out of 61 patients, 29 were diagnosed with atopic dermatitis and 32 had non-atopic childhood eczema. Mean age of onset of atopic dermatitis was 4.7 yrs. Male to female ratio of 1.41:1 was observed. Asseverity of eczema increased, serum IgE levels and eosinophil count also increased significantly in atopic patients.Discussion and Conclusion:Eosinophil counts and serum IgE levels are valid prognostic indicators for atopic dermatitis. As eosinophil count is a simple and inexpensive test when compared to serum IgE levels, it can alone be used as a prognostic indicator in patients with atopic dermatitis especially in resource restricted settings.