Women with atopic dermatitis (AD) may be more fecund than women without AD.
The authors of a study recently published in Human Reproduction Open write that AD elicits a characteristic T-helper-2-cell-skewed immune response that mirrors the immune shift in pregnancy needed for a pregnant woman's immune response to tolerate the fetus. It was therefore hypothesized that AD may be advantageous for conception and pregnancy maintenance. To date, however, that hypothesis had not been investigated.
Camilla Kjersgaard, MD, is a researcher with the department of public health, research unit for epidemiology at Aarhus University in Denmark. Her exchange with the Reading Room has been edited for clarity and length.
What was the motivation for this study?
Kjersgaard: The motivation came from both clinical observations and gaps in the existing literature. As a clinician, I had noticed that some women experience changes in their AD during pregnancy, which led me to think more broadly about the relation between AD and reproductive health. Pregnancy is characterized by profound immunological adaptations. Interestingly, some of these immune changes resemble the immune profile seen in atopic diseases. Despite this, the potential impact of AD on reproductive outcomes had been largely overlooked.
