The prevalence of self-declared sensitive skin: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Sensitive skin is a common cutaneous condition that affects many people. The exact prevalence of sensitive skin remains unknown.

We aim to perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of the published literatures to determine the global self-declared prevalence of sensitive skin.

A systematic review of studies reporting the prevalence of sensitive skin was conducted searching electronic database of PubMed. Data were extracted and proportion meta-analyses were carried out to obtain the pooled prevalence.

A total of 26 studies were included representing general population in 18 countries with 51 783 individuals. The pooled proportion of individuals with self-reported sensitive skin to some degrees was 71% [95% confidence interval (CI) 62%-81%] in the general population and 40% (95% CI 32%-47%) among individuals having very or moderately sensitive skin. Sensitive skin affected both women (45%, 95% CI 36%-55%) and men (33%, 95% CI 24%-42%), and women tended to be a risk factor with the development of sensitive skin compared to men (Risk Ratio=1.741, 95% CI 1.38-2.20). The corresponding estimates for prevalence were 38% (95% CI 25%-51%) among America, 35% (95% CI 32%-37%) among South America, 44% (95% CI 39%-50%) among Europe, and 31% (95% CI 16%-45%) among Asia, respectively. The pooled proportion of self-diagnosed facial sensitive skin to some degree was 64% (95% CI 49%-76%). For subjects responded as having very or moderately facial sensitive skin, the pooled proportion was 34% (95% CI 21%-46%).

Our meta-analysis based on published data showed that the global prevalence of self-declared sensitive skin to some degrees was 71% in the adult population, and 40% among individuals having very or moderately sensitive skin. However, the prevalence of sensitive skin was dependent on the diagnostic method and the prevalence might be over-estimated in the questionnaire-based epidemiological studies.