ABSTRACT

Aim: To determine the association between acanthosis nigricans (AN) andtype 2diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

Methodology: This case-control study was carried out at Jinnah Teaching Hospital (JTH) attached to Jinnah Medical College (JMC), Peshawar on total 100 consecutive patients (50 cases and 50 controls) by using non-probability consecutive sampling technique. The cases were all diagnosed diabetic patients (type 2) and controls were healthy subjects. The patientswere diagnosed to type 2diabetes mellitus (cases) on basis of American diabetes association criteria. Patients age 25 years and above, both genders, and Pakistani nationals were included in the study. For each patient data on frequency of AN, and gender, obesity, age, random blood sugar, HbA1c and body mass index (BMI) were recorded.  Descriptive statistics were calculated for all variables in SPSS

 Results: Mean age was 40.7±10.34 years. The males were 54(54%) and females were 46(46%). The frequency of acanthosis nigricans was higher in cases (n=31, 63.3%) than controls (n=18, 36.7%) and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.01).  Among the cases, there was a statistically significant association of AN with BMI(P=0.02, 95% CI=-6.61, -0.592), HbA1c (P=0.018, 95% CI=-1.95, -0.195), random blood sugar (P=0.024, 95% CI=-72.64, -5.30), and waist circumference (P<0.01, 95% CI=-6.726, -2.204).

Conclusion: The frequency of AN is higher than most other population in T2DM. Acanthosis nigricans is associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus and can be used as a cutaneous marker in screening of type 2 DM.

Keywords: Acanthosis nigricans, type 2diabetes mellitus, association, body mass index