BACKGROUND: Ocular surface diseases (OSDs), including conjunctivitis and blepharitis, are common in atopic dermatitis (AD) patients, but the magnitude and patient characteristics are unclear.

OBJECTIVES: To examine the prevalence of OSDs in adults with AD and identify patient characteristics and risk factors.

METHODS: We designed a cross-sectional questionnaire-based survey and sent it via a secure public mail to all adult Danes with a hospital diagnosis of AD (ICD-10 code L20.x) registered in the National Patient Register (n=16,718) between 2000-2019 and 7,044 (42%) participated. Primary outcomes were OSDs and severity according to Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI). Adjusted odds ratios (aOR) were calculated with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) using logistic regression models.

RESULTS: Respondents were mostly females and middle-aged (67.4%, mean [SD] age, 39.0 [15.5] years). Based on Patient-Oriented SCORing Atopic Dermatitis (PO-SCORAD) 49% had mild AD, 35% moderate, 10% severe and in 6% AD was inactive. 44.3% reported physician-diagnosed asthma bronchiale and 55.8% rhinitis. The lifetime prevalence of OSDs was 66.6% for conjunctivitis, 63.5% for hordeolum, 11.0% for blepharitis, 9.7% for keratitis, 2.0% for pterygium, 1.5% for symblepharon, 1.1% for keratoconus and 12.7% reported current conjunctivitis. Factors associated with lifetime occurrence of conjunctivitis included mild, moderate, and severe AD (aOR=1.48 [95% CI, 1.02-2.14], aOR=1.73 [95% CI, 1.19-2.53], aOR=2.17 [95% CI, 1.42-3.21]), asthma bronchiale and rhinitis (aOR=1.76 [95% CI, 1.49-2.07]), childhood-onset of AD (aOR=1.34 [95% CI, 1.16-1.56]) and systemic AD treatment (aOR=1.27 [95% CI, 1.08-1.50]). Use of soft and hard contact lenses (aOR=2.15 [95% CI, 1.65-2.80], aOR=3.35 [95% CI, 1.62-6.92]) were associated with lifetime occurrence of keratitis. Moderate and severe AD, asthma bronchiale and rhinitis were also associated with a higher OSDI level.

CONCLUSIONS: This study identified important patient factors associated with OSDs. Clinicians should be attentive of ocular signs and symptoms in AD patients and ask about these.