according to the results of a meta-analysis of more than 50,000 patients.
To date, “mounting comorbidities of rosacea have been identified, suggesting that rosacea is not simply a skin disease but has links to multiple systemic illnesses,” wrote Qi Chen, MD, of Central South University, Changsha, China, and colleagues. The association with rosacea and cardiometabolic disease has been controversial, they added.
In a study published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, they identified 13 studies including 50,442 rosacea patients and 1,525,864 controls. Approximately 71% of the rosacea patients were women.
Overall, patients with rosacea showed a statistically significant association for hypertension (risk ratio, 1.20; 95% confidence interval, 1.08-1.34; P = .001) and dyslipidemia (RR, 1.32; 95% CI, 1.10-1.58; P = .002). Specifically, rosacea patients averaged higher standard mean differences of systolic and diastolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol and LDL cholesterol, and triglycerides, compared with controls.
Rosacea was not significantly associated with an increased risk for ischemic heart disease, stroke, or diabetes, although the rosacea patients showed significantly increased risk of higher fasting blood glucose, compared with controls.
Findings don’t show causality
The study findings were limited by several factors, including the observational nature of some of the studies and the inability to perform subgroup analyses based on subtype and disease severity, the researchers noted. In addition, most of the rosacea patients were outpatients. “Further investigations are warranted to identify the relationship between rosacea and [cardiometabolic disease] in general populations to further validate the significance of our findings.”
However, the results support the value of screening for cardiometabolic disease in rosacea patients to facilitate diagnosis and treatment of disease at an early stage, they concluded.
“Rosacea has been linked statistically to many comorbidities including depression, anxiety, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus,” Julie Harper, MD, of the Dermatology and Skin Care Center of Birmingham (Alabama), said in an interview.
“This study looked more specifically at cardiometabolic disease and found a statistically significant correlation between rosacea and hypertension, higher total cholesterol, higher triglycerides and higher fasting blood glucose,” she said. However, “while there is an association present in this meta-analysis, we cannot assume a cause-and-effect relationship.”
Although the analysis does not prove causality, the key message for clinicians is that cardiometabolic disease is quite common in rosacea patients, and risk factors should be identified and treated early, said Dr. Harper. “Our patients with and without rosacea will benefit from age-appropriate screening, physical examination, and laboratory evaluation with a primary care physician. For rosacea patients in particular, we can advise them that early research suggests that individuals with rosacea might have an increased risk of hypertension and/or high cholesterol and triglycerides. It never hurts to make an appointment with primary care and to be checked.”
“We need more confirmatory studies that minimize the influence of confounding,” Dr. Harper added. Rosacea also has also been linked to obesity, which is another risk factor for cardiometabolic disease.
The study was supported by multiple grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China. The researchers had no financial conflicts to disclose. Dr. Harper had no relevant financial conflicts to disclose.
SOURCE: Chen Q et al. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2020 Nov;83(5):1331-40.