Association between acrochordons and the components of metabolic syndrome

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between acrochordons and the components of metabolic syndrome (MS). A total of 192 patients with at least one skin tag and 104 controls having no skin tag seen at an academic outpatient dermatology clinic were involved. Body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, blood pressure, total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) and high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) values were measured. Oral glucose tolerance testing was performed. Patients with acrochordons were 64.6/35.4% female/male. The number of acrochordons was below 10 in 77.1% cases. The most frequent localization was the neck (72.4%). Acrochordons were smaller than 3 mm in 64.1% of the cases. Hypertension, diabetes and MS were significantly more frequent in patients with acrochordons than the control group. The acrochordon group showed significantly higher values of BMI, higher levels of TC, TG and LDL-C and significantly lower levels of HDL-C when compared with the control group. According to regression analysis, the number of acrochordons increased in patients with higher BMI values, 2-h plasma glucose, TC and LDL-C levels and lower HDL-C levels. These results support the suggestion that acrochordons are associated with the components of MS.