Study: People with eczema at higher risk of suicidal thoughts, attempts

A new study by researchers from the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine claims that people with atopic dermatitis, also known as eczema, are more likely to have suicidal thoughts and attempts than others without the condition.

The results of the study were published in the journal, JAMA Journal, on Wednesday.

Eczema is a skin disease that is chronic, inflammatory and can last for years.

The study analyzed 15 previous studies that included 310,681 eczema patients and about 4.4 million patients without eczema. Study locations were in North America, Asia, Europe and Africa.

The researchers found that patients with eczema were 44% more likely to have suicidal thoughts and 36% more likely to attempt suicide compared to people without the skin condition.

“Many patients with AD have a profound psychosocial burden. Because of the visibility of the disease, patients may experience shame, embarrassment, and stigmatization. Children with AD perform significantly worse in academics compared with healthy children,” the study report read.

“Adults with AD perform significantly worse at work and have fewer job opportunities compared with healthy adults.7 Atopic dermatitis has been associated with depression and anxiety.”

However, due to incomplete data or inconsistent results, the researchers did not find a difference in the risk of completed suicide between eczema patients and others.