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The prevalence of acne in adults 20 years and older

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Background

Acne, one of the most common skin diseases, is often mistakenly thought to affect exclusively the teenaged group. However, a significant number of patients either continue to experience acne or develop new-onset acne after the teenaged years.

Objective

A survey was designed to assess the prevalence of acne in the teenaged years, and aged 20 to 29 years, 30 to 39 years, 40 to 49 years, and 50 years and older.

Methods

Adults aged 20 years and older were asked to complete surveys distributed at various sites on our university campus and medical complex.

Results

Of 1013 participants aged 20 years and older, 73.3% (n = 744) reported ever having acne. After the teenaged years, women were more likely to report having acne than men, with the difference being statistically significant in all age groups. The prevalence of acne reported in women versus men was as follows: 20 to 29 years, 50.9% (n = 276) versus 42.5% (n = 201) (P = .0073); 30 to 39 years, 35.2% (n = 152) versus 20.1% (n = 73) (P < .0001); 40 to 49 years, 26.3% (n = 93) versus 12.0% (n = 36) (P < .0001); and 50 years and older, 15.3% (n = 41) versus 7.3% (n = 18) (P = .0046).

Limitations

Our results are based on the participant's own perception of the presence or absence of acne rather than a clinical evaluation.

Conclusions

Acne continues to be a common skin problem past the teenaged years, with women being affected at higher rates than men in all age groups 20 years or older.

Section snippets

Methods

A 1-page questionnaire was designed to evaluate the prevalence of acne in various adult age groups. The survey was developed in conjunction with our biostatistics department. The survey design included a test of internal consistency to exclude participants who failed to answer the survey truthfully. The survey was piloted and validated by administering the survey to patients presenting to our dermatology clinic during a 1-month period. The institutional review board reviewed and approved the

Results

A total of 1148 surveys were distributed and completed. Of these, 35 were excluded on the basis of self-contradictory answers causing the participant to fail the test of internal consistency, and 1013 were included in the data analysis. The mean age of participants was 48.0 years (SD 16.7). There were 540 female and 473 male participants included in the study. When asked whether they had ever had a pimple or acne, 73.3% of participants responded affirmatively. Concerning teenaged acne, the

Discussion

Our results confirm the findings of several previous studies that acne remains a common disease throughout the adult years. In contrast to the abundance of studies related to acne in adolescents, there are relatively few studies in the literature that address adult acne. Our study is important in that it assesses acne in both sexes according to age group. Although the data are drawn from a survey and, thus, represent self-report of acne rather than a clinical assessment, acne is a well-known

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Funding sources: None.

Conflicts of interest: None declared.

Presented in poster form at the American Academy of Dermatology Annual Meeting in Washington, DC, February 2-6, 2007.

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