REDUCED intake of dietary sodium may be a cost-effective and low-risk treatment for atopic dermatitis (AD), according to recent research. The association between diet and AD remains poorly understood, which contributes to the variability observed in disease progression. Researchers aimed to investigate the relationship between dietary sodium intake, estimated using urine sodium levels, and the prevalence of AD in a large, population-based cohort.
The cross-sectional study included 215,832 participants with a mean age of 56.52 years from the UK Biobank. The researchers estimated 24-hour urine sodium excretion using a single spot urine sample collected between March 31, 2006, and October 1, 2010, with calculations based on the sex-specific International Cooperative Study on Salt, Other Factors, and Blood Pressure equation, which incorporates body mass index, age, and urine concentrations of potassium, sodium, and creatinine. The analysis was conducted between February 23, 2022, and March 20, 2024. AD was determined through diagnostic and prescription codes from linked electronic medical records. Multivariable logistic regression models, adjusted for age, sex, race and ethnicity, Townsend Deprivation Index, and education, were used to determine the association between 24-hour urine sodium excretion and risk of AD.
The analysis revealed that the mean estimated 24-hour urine sodium excretion was 3.01 g per day, and 10,839 participants (5.0%) had a diagnosis of AD. A 1-g increase in estimated 24-hour urine sodium excretion was associated with increased odds of AD (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]: 1.11), increased odds of active AD (AOR: 1.16), and heightened odds of increasing severity of AD (AOR: 1.11). In a validation cohort of 13,014 participants from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a 1 g per day higher dietary sodium intake estimated using dietary recall questionnaires was associated with a higher risk of current AD (AOR:1.22).
These findings suggest that reducing dietary sodium intake may be a cost-effective and low-risk intervention for managing AD. This could provide a straightforward dietary modification to help mitigate the symptoms and severity of AD.
Katrina Thornber, EMJ
Reference
Chiang BM et al. Sodium Intake and Atopic Dermatitis. JAMA Dermatol. 2024;DOI:10.1001/jamadermatol.2024.1544.
