Study Finds Family History, Higher Incidence of Sunburns Associated Wi...( SAN FRANCISCO March 5 -- Rosacea is ...),Health

SAN FRANCISCO, March 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Rosacea is a chronic skin condition that causes redness, swelling and vascular abnormalities, most commonly on the face, with varying degrees of severity. While the exact cause of rosacea is unknown, dermatologists are examining several characteristics shared by rosacea patients. This research could improve the general understanding of this complex disease which affects an estimated 14 million Americans.

Speaking today at the 67th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology (Academy), dermatologist Alexa Boer Kimball, MD, MPH, FAAD, associate professor of dermatology at Harvard Medical School in Boston, presented findings from a case-controlled study of rosacea subjects compared to control subjects and the implications of her research.

"This study was building on previous photo database work that we had done in which we looked at photos of 3,000 people with and without rosacea to try to determine the prevalence of rosacea in certain populations and some of the factors that seemed to be associated with it," said Dr. Kimball. "We wanted to see whether we could validate some of these initial findings, as well as explore whether rosacea was predictive of other systemic conditions that might be related -- similar to the link between severe cases of psoriasis and other medical conditions such as diabetes and heart disease."

In this case-controlled study that built on the photo study conducted at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital, both in Boston, 65 rosacea subjects (age 24 to 86) and 65 controls without rosacea (age 18 to 78) underwent a facial skin exam, completed a questionnaire and had their height, weight and blood pressure measured. Blood pressure measurements, body mass indexes and questionnaire results of the two groups were compared. In general, the rosacea subjects had a moderate to severe form of the skin
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