Incidence of Bacterial and Nonbacterial Conjunctivitis in Patients With Atopic Dermatitis Treated With Dupilumab: A US Multidatabase Cohort Study

Background: Dupilumab-associated conjunctivitis in patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) is not fully characterized.

Objective: The aim of the study was to characterize the incidence of bacterial and nonbacterial conjunctivitis among patients with AD who initiated dupilumab.

Methods: Pooling longitudinal claims data from 2 US databases, we identified AD patients who newly filled either dupilumab or methotrexate, mycophenolate or cyclosporine, between March 2017 and January 2020. Outcomes were conjunctivitis and its subtypes, bacterial, allergic, and keratoconjunctivitis. Patient follow-up lasted 6 months and 1:1 propensity score (PS) matching-controlled confounding.

Results: Within 6 months of treatment initiation, the incidence of conjunctivitis was 6.6% in 3744 dupilumab initiators; bacterial conjunctivitis, 1.5%; allergic conjunctivitis, 2.2%; keratoconjunctivitis, 0.8%; and conjunctivitis requiring ophthalmic medication, 2.7%. After PS matching, dupilumab doubled the risk of conjunctivitis compared with methotrexate (relative risk [RR] 2.12; 1.56-2.91), mycophenolate (RR = 2.43; 1.32-4.47), or cyclosporine (RR = 1.83; 1.05-3.20). Risk of bacterial conjunctivitis was 1.6- to 4.0-fold increased with wide confidence intervals, and allergic conjunctivitis was increased 2.7- to 7-fold. There was no increased risk of keratoconjunctivitis. Patients with comorbid asthma had a further increased risk of conjunctivitis.

Conclusions: One in 15 patients treated with dupilumab developed conjunctivitis driven by bacterial and allergic conjunctivitis and not keratoconjunctivitis. This risk was further increased with comorbid asthma.