Study identifies link between rosacea and GI diseases

A Danish population -based cohort study identified a significant association between patients who have rosacea and their risk of having certain other gastrointestinal diseases – specifically celiac disease, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, and irritable bowel syndrome.

“While a co-occurrence of rosacea and gastrointestinal disorders has previously been evaluated, the topic remains controversial,” wrote the authors, led by the department of dermatology and allergy, Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, Hellerup, Denmark.

A nationwide cohort study of adults ages 18 years and older from national administrative registers, starting on Jan. 1, 2007, through Dec. 31, 2012 was conducted. In total, 49,475 roscea patients were included, with 4,312,213 individuals from the general population who were used as controls. That outcomes were any occurrences of celiac disease (CeD), Crohn’s disease (CD), ulcerative colitis (UC), and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), Helicobactor pylori (HP) infection, and small intestinal bacterial overgrowth that occurred during the study period; the choice of those conditions was due to their potential mechanistic and pathogenic overlap with rosacea.

At baseline, the prevalence of CeD, CD, UC, HP infection, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, and IBS was significantly higher among the patients with rosacea, compared with the controls.

Adjusted hazard ratios showed a significant association between patients with rosacea and one of the following GI diagnoses: CeD ( hazard ratio 1.46), CD (HR,1.45), UC (HR 1.19), and IBS (HR, 1.34). However, no significant association was found between rosacea and HP infection or small intestinal bacterial overgrowth.

The findings from this study raise an important question about the pathogenic overlap between the studies on gastrointestinal disorder and rosacea.