Under-diagnosis of atopic dermatitis in Puerto Rican children

Little is known about atopic dermatitis (AD) among children in Puerto Rico.

To examine risk factors and identify approaches to better diagnose AD in Puerto Rican children.

Case-control study of AD among 540 children aged 6-14 years in San Juan, Puerto Rico. AD was defined as: 1) physician-diagnosed AD, 2) RAST-AD: AD symptoms plus ≥1 positive IgE to allergens, and 3) STR-AD: AD-symptoms and skin test reactivity to ≥1 allergen. Logistic regression was used for the multivariable analysis. We also evaluated the diagnostic performance of various approaches by comparing their sensitivity, specificity, positive predicted value [PPV], negative predictive value [NPV], and area under curve [AUC]).

Of the 70 children with STR-AD, only 5 (7.1%) had PD-AD. In children without asthma, a positive IgE to Dermatophagoides (D.) pteronyssinus and signs of mold/mildew at home were significantly associated with 3.3 and 5 times increased odds of STR-AD, respectively. Among children with asthma, private/employer-based health insurance and a positive IgE to D. pteronyssinus were each significantly associated with approximately twofold increased odds of STR-AD. A combination of current eczema symptoms and a positive IgE to D. pteronyssinus yielded a sensitivity $$ 70%, specificity and NPV $$ 95%, PPV $$ 88%, and an AUC $$ 0.85 for STR-AD. Replacing a positive IgE to D. pteronyssinus with a positive IgE to ≥1 allergen slightly increased sensitivity without affecting other parameters.

AD is markedly under-diagnosed by physicians in Puerto Rico. This could be improved by assessing eczema symptoms and measuring IgEs to common allergens.