which permits unrestricted noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The Association between Atopic Dermatitis and Depressive Symptoms in Korean Adults: The Fifth Korea National Health a

Background: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is characterized by pruritic and eczematous skin lesions, which often cause depressive symptoms, anxiety, stress, sleep disturbances, social withdrawal, and stigmatization. Methods: In total, 23,442 subjects (434 AD patients and 23,008 control subjects) aged 19 years or older and without a history of major medical illness or depressive disorders were selected from The Fifth Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2007–2012. Following the initial selection, 2,170 age- and sex-matched control sub-jects were selected using 1:5 propensity score matching. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to iden-tify the presence of depressive symptoms of at least 2 weeks in duration. Results: The demographic, socioeconomic, and clinical characteristics of AD patients and control subjects were presented and compared, and some variables differed significantly between groups. Presence of depressive symp-toms was set as dependent variable, and multiple logistic regression analysis was performed as follows: (1) unad-justed; (2) with alcohol use, exercise status, smoking status, and body mass index (BMI) adjusted for; and (3) with alcohol use, exercise status, smoking status, marital status, occupation, BMI, total caloric intake, history of hyper-tension, and history of diabetes mellitus adjusted for. Depressive symptoms were significantly higher (odds ratios, 1.46, 1.40, and 1.36; 95 % confidence intervals, 1.09–1.95, 1.0.4–1.88, and 1.01–1.85, respectively) in AD patients rela-tive to those of matched controls