Alcohol intake and risk of incident rosacea in US women
Suyun Li, PhD candidate1, Eunyoung Cho, ScD2,3,4, Aaron M. Drucker, MD2, Abrar A. Qureshi, MD, MPH2,3,4, and Wen-Qing Li, PhD2,3
J Am Acad Dermatol. 2017 June ; 76(6): 1061–1067.e2. doi:10.1016/j.jaad.2017.02.040.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5438297/pdf/nihms855205.pdf
Last week I had encountered a 33yo female patient who came in complaining of new face redness ever since she started drinking red wine a month ago. She had noticed it present when she drinks, and absent when she stops. The doctor had rosacea on her differential list. I wanted to find an article that discussed the incidence of rosacea in women who drink alcohol. I found an article titled “Alcohol intake and risk of incident rosacea in US women” and published in the Journal of American Academy of Dermatology.
This article had studied 82,737 women from Nurses’ Health Study II cohort, between the years 1991-2005. Women’s data was analyzed, including the alcohol intake, every 4 years. After 14 years of data, 4945 cases of rosacea were identified. A significantly elevated risk of rosacea cases were seen in the drinkers compared to the non-drinkers, with a P-value <0.0001. There was also a linear trend in the “dose-response relationship between alcohol intake and risk of incident rosacea”. The types of alcohol consumed was also studied, discovering that white wine had increased associated with risk of rosacea, with a P-value <0.0001, and liquor, with P-value of <0.0006. There was no effect found in smokers and risk of rosacea, with P-value ~0.61.
The relationship between alcohol intake and rosacea can be explained by a few concepts. Alcohol causes peripheral vasodilation, which also plays an effect on the immune system having pro-inflammatory effects. Alcohol can induce catecholamine release, leading to bradykinin vasodilation seen in the face; as well as increase the amount of cytokines produced. This can lead to the flushing and redness observed in patients with rosacea.
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