Patients with diabetes mellitus and rosacea are at a significantly increased 5-year risk for ocular disease, according to a retrospective cohort nationwide database study. The researchers also evaluated the data for a connection with systemic inflammatory, gastrointestinal and psychiatric diseases as secondary outcomes. These data are being presented at the 2022 American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) Annual Meeting.

“Rosacea is a chronic relapsing disease with many systemic comorbidities. Inflammation and angiogenesis play an important role in both rosacea and diabetic eye diseases… Rosacea is not only a cutaneous disease but is more akin to a systemic inflammatory disease and may be related to the gut-brain-skin axis,” wrote lead author Fang-Ying Wang, MD, College of Medicine, College of Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, and colleagues.

The researchers examined data from 4096 patients with diabetes and rosacea who received hypoglycemic agents between January 1, 1997 and December, 31, 2013, and compared them with data from 16,384 patients without rosacea.

Patients with rosacea had significantly higher risks of diabetic macular edema (sub-distribution hazard ratio [SHR]: 1.31, 95% CI: 1.05-1.63), receiving medical treatment for glaucoma (SHR: 1.11, 1.01-1.21), dry eye disease (SHR: 1.55, 1.38-1.75), and cataract surgery (SHR: 1.13, 1.02-1.25).

Additionally, those with rosacea, 2.5% developed macular edema, compared with 2% of those without rosacea (p=.017), while 9.4% of patients with rosacea developed dry eye disease, compared with 5.9% of those without rosacea (p<.001). Of those with rosacea, 11.4% later received cataract surgery, compared with only 10.3% of those without rosacea (p=.024).

The researchers also observed a significant association between psoriasis, irritable bowel syndrome, anxiety, and depression in diabetic patients with rosacea. Irritable bowel syndrome (5.3% versus 3.6%; p=.001) and depression (2.3% versus 1.5%; p=.018) were also increased in those with rosacea.

Reference
Wang F, Kang E, Liu C, et al. Association between rosacea and eye diseases in patients with diabetes: a nationwide cohort study. Poster presented at: AAD Annual Meeting. March 25-29, 2022; Boston, MA.