Prevalence and Cutaneous Comorbidity of Acne Vulgaris in the Working Population

Although acne vulgaris (AV) is a common disease and can persist into adulthood, there are few large-scale epidemiological studies on the prevalence of acne vulgaris in adults. The aim of our study was to characterise the epidemiology and comorbidity of acne vulgaris in working adults in Germany.

Within the framework of a cross-sectional study, a total of 161,269 employees underwent dermatological whole-body examinations in more than 500 German companies between 2001 and 2016. Point prevalence rates for acne vulgaris and further skin diseases and their 95% confidence intervals were calculated and differences between participants with and without acne vulgaris were tested with chi-squared tests.

Mean age was 43.2 years ± 10.9, 55.5% were male. In total, n = 5311 people (3.3%) with acne vulgaris were identified. Prevalence decreased by age. Controlling for age and gender, acne was significantly associated with folliculitis (OR = 1.91; CI: 1.76-2.07), contact dermatitis (OR = 1.74; CI: 1.08-2.81), rosacea (OR = 1.74; CI: 1.40-2.15), pyoderma (OR = 1.58; 1.22-2.06), seborrheic dermatitis (OR = 1.47; CI: 1.27-1.71), hand eczema (OR = 1.34; CI: 1.00-1.76), verruca vulgaris plantaris (OR = 1.29; CI: 1.09-1.51), tinea pedis (OR = 1.27; CI: 1.10-1.47), spider veins (OR = 1.26; CI: 1.16-1.38) and telangiectasia (OR = 1.15; CI: 1.02-1.30).

These data underline the importance of acne vulgaris in the adult population. Further studies to better understand the pathophysiology of AV and its comorbidity in different phases of adulthood would be desirable to develop appropriate guidelines and therapy concepts.