Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Although skin tag is associated with diabetes mellitus, no data in the literature show that the presence of skin tag is associated with diabetic macro and microangiopathy. The purpose of this study was to investigate frequency of hypertension, dyslipidemia, obesity, macro and micro angiopathy in type 2 diabetic patients with and without skin tag.

Methods/Design: We evaluated 99 (40 female and 59 male) type 2 diabetic patients. All patients were evaluated for blood pressure, body mass index, lipids, HbA1c, macroangiopathy (peripheral vascular disease, cerebrovascular disease and coronary hearth disease), microangiopathy (neuropathy, nephropathy, retinopathy) and skin tag.

Results: Mean HbA1c was 8.1±2.0% and body mass index was 30.5±6.4 kg/m2. The frequency of skin tags 53.5%, dyslipidemia 68.7%, hypertension 69.7%, obesity 39.4%, macroangiopathy 61.6% (peripheral vascular disease 12.1%, cerebrovascular disease 16.2%, and coronary heart disease 49.5%), microangiopathy 63.6% (neuropathy 21.2%, nephropathy 38.4%, retinopathy 38.4%) were detected. Higher body mass index (p: 0.04) and frequency of obesity (p: 0.03) were detected in patients with skin tag than without skin tag. HbA1c (p:0.4) and the presence of dyslipidemia (P=0.4), hypertension (p: 0.6), macroangiopathy (p: 0.2), and microangiopathy (p: 0.9) were not different in patients with and without skin tag.

Conclusion: We conclude that presence of skin tag is merely related to obesity and may not be strongly associated with macro- and microangiopathy in type 2 diabetic individuals. Further studies with large patient population are required to elucidate the association between the presence of skin tag and diabetic angiopathy.

Declaration of interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research project.

Funding: This research did not receive any specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sector.