In a recent study published in Scientific Reports , researchers investigated if rosacea, a common skin condition widely considered to be only a cosmetic issue, could be associated with several comorbidities, including melanomas . Study: Rosacea is strongly associated with melanoma in Caucasians . Image Credit: Andrey_Popov/Shutterstock.
com They used a large age- and sex-matched cohort derived from the TriNetX platform (n = 244,888) for the study comprising Caucasian, Black, Asian, Alaskan, and Pacific Islander ethnicities. Their findings elucidate that, contrary to previous research, rosacea is significantly associated with a heightened risk of visual disturbances, metabolic disorders, joint problems, and type 2 diabetes (T2D). Notably, the Caucasian sub-cohort depicted a substantially increased risk of melanoma, a finding absent in the Asian cohort.
This ethnicity-associated outcome may explain conflicting comorbidity reports from previous studies. While the present study has notable limitations in its retrospective design, it helps justify further research into the pathology of this common yet poorly understood disease. Rosacea is a chronic skin condition predominantly causing redness and rashes on affected individuals' cheeks, chin, nose, and forehead.
The condition is most prevalent in females between the ages of 30-50, though it can occur in individuals irrespective of age or sex. Global reports suggest that individuals of Celtic descent and fair-skinned northern Europea.
