TUESDAY, May 21, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- In pediatric patients, acrochordons may be a marker for metabolic disease, according to a study published online April 29 in Pediatric Dermatology.

Rachel K. Greene, M.D., from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and colleagues conducted a single-center retrospective cohort study of outpatient dermatology patients between Jan. 1, 2000, and Jan. 1, 2021, to examine the association between acrochordons, obesity, and metabolic syndrome. Children diagnosed with acrochordons were identified.

The 55 patients younger than 18 years (mean age of diagnosis, 10.1 years) with acrochordon diagnosis were mainly Caucasian and female (76 and 64 percent, respectively). Mean body mass index was 27.3 kg/m2; 49.5 and 20 percent of participants were categorized as overweight and obese, respectively. The researchers found that acrochordon mainly appeared in the axilla. Three patients in the cohort (5.5 percent) met the criteria for metabolic syndrome. Compared with a sample from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, the prevalence rates of obesity (42 versus 21 percent), type 2 diabetes mellitus (4.8 versus 0.6 percent), hyperlipidemia (8.1 versus 0 percent), and hypertension (1.6 versus 0 percent) were higher in the study cohort.

"While skin tags are largely benign and idiopathic, their presence may indicate underlying metabolic abnormalities in both adults and children, especially in the setting of obesity," the authors write.

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