A recent study reported that higher dietary sodium intake was associated with an increased risk of atopic dermatitis.
The cross-sectional analysis involved 215,832 adults from the UK Biobank cohort and found that a 1-g increase in estimated 24-hour urine sodium excretion correlated with an 11% increase in the odds of an atopic dermatitis diagnosis, a 16% increase in the odds of active atopic dermatitis, and an 11% increase in the odds of more severe atopic dermatitis.
The study, published in JAMA Dermatology, used urine sodium as a biomarker to estimate dietary sodium intake. Participants, aged 37 to 73 years, provided spot urine samples between March 31, 2006, and October 1, 2010. The data were analyzed from February 23, 2022, to March 20, 2024, employing multivariable logistic regression models that adjusted for age, sex, race and ethnicity, Townsend Deprivation Index, and education level.
The mean estimated 24-hour urine sodium excretion was 3.01 g/d, with 5.0% of participants having a diagnosis of atopic dermatitis (AD). Validation of these findings in a cohort of 13,014 participants from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey demonstrated a similar association, where a higher dietary sodium intake, estimated via dietary recall questionnaires, was linked to an increased risk of current AD.
The authors proposed further studies to explore how variations in sodium intake might influence AD flares and to evaluate its role in modulating responses to new immunomodulatory treatments. They also suggested that restriction of dietary sodium intake could be a cost-effective and low-risk intervention for AD.
Full disclosures can be found in the study.