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Many of the hazardous natural conditions exacerbated by climate change could have a negative impact on patients with atopic dermatitis (AD).

The recent review, conducted by the International Eczema Council, appears in the journal .

The multinational research team identified 10 climatic hazards related to greenhouse gas emissions and 18 studies with evidence of the impact of these events on AD. Most of the studies showed evidence that these phenomena can aggravate AD -- from the direct effects of particulate matter from wildfires to the indirect effects of drought-induced food insecurity.

Highlights of the study that follow have been edited for length and clarity.

Why this study now?

It is important to understand the current and potential future impact of climate change on AD because environmental factors have been repeatedly shown to influence disease onset and course.

Environmental factors including ultraviolet radiation, toxins, allergens, temperature, and humidity can interact directly with the skin barrier, the skin microbiome, and the sensory and immune systems in the skin. Individuals with AD are particularly susceptible to these environmental impacts.

Most climate research to date has focused on the impacts of air pollution on AD. However, the extent to which increasingly frequent climate hazards affect AD remains poorly characterized. Researchers sought to fill this gap by summarizing the literature examining climatic hazards linked to greenhouse gas emissions and AD.

Which climate hazards were analyzed as part of the review?

The authors looked at the impact of a number of climate change-related hazards on AD:

• Warming
• Heat waves
• Wildfires
• Drought
• Storms
• Floods
• Precipitation
• Sea level rise
• Ocean climate change
• Land cover change

What were the key findings?

Researchers found evidence that most of the climatic hazards linked to greenhouse emissions can have some kind of negative impact on various aspects of AD, including prevalence, severity, flares, and related healthcare utilization.

The impact of climatic hazards on AD appears to vary depending on geographic region and climate. For example, while higher outdoor temperatures were associated with reduced severity of AD symptoms in southern Italy and with decreased AD-related healthcare utilization in Denmark, warmer weather was likewise linked to poorer disease control among children with AD in the U.S.

What are the take-home messages for clinicians?

The clinical impact of climatic hazards on AD can be considered at the individual patient, community, and population levels.

At the individual level, weather-driven flares of AD may drive temporal variation in healthcare utilization.

The increasing incidence of extreme weather events brings the potential to disrupt predictable seasonal patterns and consequently change patient self-management of AD.

At the community level, interrupted medication access in communities affected by extreme weather events not only destabilizes preexisting disease but may also prevent early and effective management of new cases.