Autism spectrum disorders and atopic dermatitis: a new perspective from country-based prevalence data

Abstract

Recently, a continuous growth for both neurodevelopmental and atopic diseases’ incidence was seen throughout the world. Notably, autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and atopic dermatitis (AD) attracted the attention of clinicians and scientists for their impact on the quality of life of patients, starting during childhood. Despite a number of hypotheses about common pathogenesis between the two disorders, uncertainty is still present, and data coming from various parts of the world are contradictory. Fortunately, works recently published have brought useful material for comparative analysis to the benefit of the scientific community, making large scale, country-based perspectives methodologically viable. In light of that, the present study took into account uniform data, available from country-based registries or related publications, dealing with the prevalence of the two conditions around the world, and tried to setup a simple correlation analysis between the two. According to such data, the growth of AD and ASD prevalence appear uncorrelated, leading to hypothesise that, if a common etiopathological pathway exists between the two conditions, they are likely to interact to each other due to a complex interplay of co-morbidities, genes and environmental players not enough explained by a simple correlation analysis. Such facts are worth investigation in future research.

Pathological social withdrawal in autism spectrum disorder: A case control study of hikikomori in Japan

“…Interestingly, in the present study, ASD accompanied by atopic dermatitis was significantly more common in the hikikomori group. There are many earlier studies reporting of atopic dermatitis and ASD as a comorbidity, and yet the common pathogenesis between the two disorders is still uncertain ( 12 ). Prior studies have shown that genetic variants in Stat6, which is crucial for the regulation of Th2 immune responses, are associated with atopy.…”

“…Another growing interest was common comorbidities of ASD. Atopic dermatitis has often been reported as a common comorbidity of psychosocial disorders such as depression, anxiety ( 11 ), and even ASD ( 12 ). Kato et al reported high comorbidity of atopic dermatitis with hikikomori ( 1 ).…”

Rhinitis associated with asthma is distinct from rhinitis alone: The ARIA‐MeDALL hypothesis

“…11 Additional multimorbidities due to ocular, cognitive, autism spectrum, thyroid, and bowel diseases need to be understood. [12][13][14] Asthma, rhinitis, and AD are clinical phenotypes that are interrelated. The molecular pathways (as measured by genes, transcripts, metabolites, and/or epigenetics) underlying multimorbidity can be measured to determine their common and divergent biology as shown in psychiatric diseases, 15 but such integrated studies looking at the overlapping of genes and pathways between related conditions have not yet been carried out for asthma, rhinitis, and AD in samples of sufficient size.…”

“…Their relationship should be understood in a multimorbidity framework, rather than through the atopic march 11 . Additional multimorbidities due to ocular, cognitive, autism spectrum, thyroid, and bowel diseases need to be understood 12–14 . Asthma, rhinitis, and AD are clinical phenotypes that are interrelated.…”

Common pathogenetic traits of atopic dermatitis and autism spectrum disorders, potential connections and treatments: trivial Th2 inflammation or much more?

“…It is already known that genetic and environmental factors collaborate with immune dysregulation and inflammation in the possible pathophysiological mechanisms shared by these two conditions ( 1 ). A new study on the prevalence rates of AD and ASD in countries around the world highlighted a cubic relationship between the two diseases, underlining that the correlation exists and probably there are multiple factors and pathways involved ( 2 ).…”