Four healthy lifestyle behaviours and adult-onset AD risk: A prospective Study from UK Biobank

Atopic dermatitis (AD) poses a substantial global disease burden. Although previous cross-sectional studies have examined lifestyle-related factors associated with AD, evidence from large-scale prospective cohorts, particularly regarding adult-onset AD, remains limited.

To investigate whether adherence to several healthy lifestyle behaviours is associated with adult-onset AD incidence.

This retrospective analysis of a prospective cohort study was conducted within the UK Biobank. Healthy lifestyle behaviours included never smoking, no or moderate alcohol consumption, optimal sleep duration and regular physical activity. Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate the association between these behaviours and AD incidence.

Among 327,005 participants, 2464 incident AD cases occurred over a 12.49-year follow-up. Each behaviour was independently associated with a lower AD incidence. Adherence to all four healthy behaviours was associated with a lower incidence of AD (aHR, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.59-0.78) versus having none or one. In adults aged 38-59 years, adherence to at least two behaviours was associated with lower risk of incident AD (aHR, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.70-0.98), whereas in adults aged 60-73 years, a lower risk was observed primarily with adherence to all four behaviours (aHR, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.62-0.96).

Adherence to these four healthy lifestyle behaviours was associated with a lower incidence of adult-onset AD.