Previous studies on the association between atopic dermatitis (AD) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) have yielded inconsistent results.
To investigate the relationship between atopic dermatitis and systemic lupus erythematosus.
Systematic review and meta-analysis.
A systematic review was conducted on EMBASE and MEDLINE databases from inception to March 2020 using a search strategy that consisted of terms related to AD and SLE. Eligible study must be either cohort or case-control study. For cohort studies, they must include patients with AD and comparators without AD, then follow them for incident SLE. For case-control studies, they must include cases with SLE and controls without SLE and examine their prior history of AD.
Meta-analysis of the studies was performed using a random-effect, generic inverse variance method to combine effect estimate and standard error. Funnel plot was used to assess publication bias.
A total of 21,486 articles were retrieved. After two rounds of review by three investigators, six case-control studies were qualified for the meta-analysis. The case-control study meta-analysis found a significantly increased odds of SLE among patients with AD with the pooled odds ratio of 1.46 (95% CI, 1.05-2.04).
A significant association between AD and increased odds of SLE was observed by this systematic review and meta-analysis.

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