Are patients with seborrheic dermatitis at elevated risk to develop high blood pressure?

Seborrheic Dermatitis Linked to A Slightly Elevated Risk For High Blood Pressure

Seborrheic dermatitis (SD) has been linked to several medical comorbidities including anxiety and peptic ulcer disease. A 201 4 study suggested that high blood pressure or ‘hypertension’ should also be added to that list.

A 2014 study suggested that there is a link between seborrheic dermatitis and high blood pressure. The association was small but nevertheless significant.

In 2014, Linder and colleagues set out to evaluate the association between SD and hypertension in an adult large population sample. The study was carried out by utilizing a very large health care organization database consisting of over 4 million enrollees in Israel. All adult patients previously diagnosed with SD were compared with a sample of enrollees without SD regarding the prevalence of high blood pressure.

The study included 9255 patients with SD and 9246 age-matched and sex-matched patients without SD. A multivariate logistic regression model demonstrated that seborrheic dermatitis was significantly associated with high blood pressure after controlling for confounders, including age, sex, socioeconomic status, smoking, diabetes and obesity (multivariate OR = 1.23, 95% CI: 1.12-1.35, P < 0.001).

Conclusion and Comment

The risk of high blood pressure in those with SD is small but nevertheless this study draws attention to a possible link. The exact reasons remain unclear but a combination of factors may be responsible including genetic predisposition, lipid issues, chronic inflammation and systemic inflammatory changes.

REFERENCE

Linder D et al. Seborrheic dermatitis and hypertension in adults: a cross-sectional study. J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol 2014 Nov;28(11):1450-5.