Acne vulgaris (AV) may persist into adulthood. The goal of a study was to characterize the epidemiology and comorbidity of AV in working adults in Germany.

This was a cross-sectional study wherein, 161,269 employees from more than 500 German companies underwent dermatological whole-body examinations from 2001 to 2016. The study entailed calculation of the point prevalence rates for AV and further skin diseases and their 95% confidence intervals.

The mean age of the participants was 43.2 ± 10.9 years, of which 55.5% were males. Overall, 5,311 (3.3%) participants were diagnosed with AV. While the prevalence of AV decreased with age. However, irrespective of the patient’s gender or age, acne was found to be significantly associated with folliculitis, contact dermatitis, rosacea, pyoderma, seborrheic dermatitis, hand eczema, verruca vulgaris plantaris, tinea pedis, spider veins and telangiectasia.

The results emphasized the importance of AV in the adult population. It was stated that future studies should focus on gaining a better understanding of the pathophysiology of AV and its comorbidity in different phases of adulthood to aid in developing specific guidelines and therapeutic recommendations.

Source: Kirsten N, Mohr N, Augustin M. Prevalence and cutaneous comorbidity of acne vulgaris in the working population. Clin Cosmet Investig Dermatol. 2021;14:1393-400.