Body mass index was negatively associated with the number of acne lesions in a study of Taiwanese women, report Dr. P.H. Lu and coauthors at National Yang-Ming University in Taipei, Taiwan.
A study of 104 Taiwanese women aged 25-45 years with moderate to severe postadolescent acne vulgaris found a negative association between body mass index (BMI) and acne lesion count (P = .001).
In addition to BMI, other recorded measurements included blood pressure, fasting glucose, triglyceride levels, cholesterol levels, waist circumference, and hip circumference. Subjects were classified into four categories: BMI less than 18.5 kg/m2, BMI of 18.5 kg/m2–23.9 kg/m2, BMI of 24 kg/m2–26.9 kg/m2), or BMI greater than or equal to 27.
Acne severity was determined by the Investigator’s Global Assessment (IGA), with inclusion criteria being a score of 3 or 4 on a scale of 0 to 5. Inflammatory lesion counts were recorded by counting papules, pustules, nodules, and cysts. Noninflammatory lesions were recorded by counting comedones.
Women in the lowest BMI category had a mean of 35.5 inflammatory lesions, 7.4 noninflammatory lesions, and 42.9 total lesions, compared with patients in the 18.5-23.9 range (27.9 inflammatory, 6.6 noninflammatory, 34.0 total), and those who were in the two higher categories (18.1 inflammatory, 4.4 noninflammatory, 22.0 total), the authors reported.
“Further investigation is warranted into the association between BMI and acne in this subset of women,” Dr. Lu and associates concluded.
Read the full study in the Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology.