• Daniel A Gold, Virginia J Reeder, Meredith G Mahan, and Iltefat H Hamzavi.
• Department of Dermatology, Henry Ford Medical Center, Detroit, Michigan.
• J. Am. Acad. Dermatol. 2014 Apr 1; 70 (4): 699-703.

BackgroundMetabolic syndrome is a multifaceted disorder strongly associated with increased risk for development of cardiovascular disease. Chronic inflammatory diseases have been associated with metabolic syndrome. Hidradenitis suppurativa is a chronic inflammatory skin disease with significant physical and emotional sequelae.ObjectiveWe sought to investigate a possible association between hidradenitis suppurativa and metabolic syndrome.MethodsA retrospective chart review of all dermatology clinic encounters over an 18-month period identified 366 patients with an appropriate diagnosis of hidradenitis suppurativa. A control population was created from patients seen in the same clinic during the same time period for the diagnoses of either keloids or verruca vulgaris using the matching criteria of age ±5 years, race, and gender. All participants were examined for characteristics of the metabolic syndrome as defined by the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Program III guidelines.ResultsThe prevalence of metabolic syndrome in patients with hidradenitis suppurativa was 50.6%, which was significantly higher than the control group at 30.2% (P < .001).LimitationsThis was a retrospective review. Some participants could not be analyzed for metabolic syndrome presence as a result of missing data points.ConclusionOur results indicate that patients with hidradenitis suppurativa may be at high risk for metabolic syndrome.Copyright © 2013 American Academy of Dermatology, Inc. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

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