An Acne Survey from the World's Largest Annual Gathering of Twins.

IMPORTANCE

Surveying identical twins allows us to qualitatively separate genetic and environmental factors that may contribute to acne severity.

OBJECTIVE

To study a cohort of identical and fraternal twins to identify environmental factors that may influence acne severity.

DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS: A survey was administered to 139 identical and fraternal twin multiples (279 subjects) at the Annual Twins Day Festival in Twinsburg, Ohio on August 6-7, 2016. One set of triplets was included.

MAIN OUTCOME(S) AND MEASURE(S): Acne incidence, severity, and triggers were analyzed using the N-1 Chi-squared test and paired, 2-tailed t test.

RESULTS

The proportion of concordant pairs was significantly higher in identical (64%) vs fraternal (49%) twins (P=0.04). Acne was found to be associated with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS; P=0.045), anxiety (P =0.014), and asthma (P=0.026). Identical twin pairs with acne had a higher BMI (P= 0.020) and exercised significantly less (P=0.001) than those without acne. Analyzing concordant twin pairs, the twin with more severe acne was more likely to report aggravation of acne with cosmetic product use (P=0.002) and sugar intake (P=0.048).

CONCLUSIONS AND REVELANCE

This twin study further supports that there may be a genetic phenotypic link, though social and environmental factors may also have an influence in the disease process.

J Drugs Dermatol. 2018;17(4):380-382.

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