The Relationship Between Body Mass Index and Acne Vulgaris – A Comparative Study

Abstract

Background: Acne vulgaris is a chronic inflammatory disease of the pilosebaceous unit that usually affects adolescents. Multiple factors have been implicated in the pathogenesis of acne vulgaris, and there is an increasing interest in studying the effect of obesity and body mass index (BMI) on the development of acne vulgaris. Objectives: This study aims to assess the association between body mass index and the occurrence of acne vulgaris in addition to the correlation between BMI and acne severity. Methods: A case-control study was conducted in the dermatology outpatient clinic of Al-Fayhaa Teaching Hospital in Basrah city. Body mass index was measured for 201 acne vulgaris patients who were age-and gender-matched with 203 controls. Results: the current study found that the percentage of overweight and obesity was higher among acne vulgaris patients (26.86% and 8.45%, respectively) than controls (15.76% and 1.48%, respectively), particularly among pre-adolescent females (P-value = 0.001). The higher BMI was significantly associated with severe acne, and there was a significant positive correlation between BMI and the global acne severity score (r = 0.830, P-value = 0.001). Conclusion: Increasing BMI is associated with an increase in the occurrence and severity of acne vulgaris.