FRIDAY, Aug. 17 (HealthDay News) -- Cutaneous manifestations, including lesions, are common in younger people with type 1 diabetes and their timing and duration could help determine intervention strategies, according to the results of a study published in the August issue of Diabetes Care.
Milos Pavlovic M.D., Ph.D., of the Military Medical Academy of Belgrade in Serbia, and colleagues evaluated 212 patients aged 2 to 22 with type 1 diabetes for a mean period of 4.2 years. Patients were given a whole body dermatological exam. Skin conditions and duration were compared to those of a healthy control group of 196 dental patients who were examined by the same dermatologists.
Overall, 142 diabetics (68 percent) had at least one skin disorder, compared to 52 (26.5 percent) of controls. Diabetes-related skin lesions were found in 81 patients and the most prevalent was acquired ichthyosis, which was found in 47 diabetics and six controls. Rubeosis, diabetic hand and necrobiosis lipoidica were only found in the diabetics. Cases of acne were comparable with the control group. Acquired ichthyosis and keratosis pilaris tended to occur early in the course of the disease.
"Timing of appearance of various cutaneous lesions in young patients with diabetes might be potentially useful for the research of their pathogenesis (i.e., derangement of epidermal lipid metabolism), therapeutic intervention (i.e., application of moisturizers or antifibrosing agents), or predicting microvascular complications," the authors write.
Abstract
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