People with rosacea (rosacea) are much more likely to suffer from dementia, including Alzheimer's, compared to peers without inflammatory skin diseases.

Researchers from Denmark who have established such an unexpected connection say that it is necessary to examine the elderly by a dermatologist in order to know more about the risk of cognitive impairment.

The idea to conduct such a study was born after biologists detected proteins present in high concentrations and with brain diseases, and with pinkheads.

Among these proteins, so-called matrix metalloproteinases and antimicrobial peptides.

In the American journal Annals of Neurology, the authors report that in elderly patients with rosacea a 7% increased risk of dementia in general, and the risk of Alzheimer's disease - by as much as 25%. In women with rosacea, the risk of Alzheimer's disease increases by 28%, and in men - by 16%.

They came to such figures by analyzing the Danish medical register for 1997-2012, which included 6 million patients from local clinics, including 83.5 thousand people with rosacea, 99 thousand people with dementia and 29 thousand - with Alzheimer's disease.

"Explicit neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders".

When the researchers took into account only those cases of rosacea diagnosed by a dermatologist, the figures became even more impressive: the risk of dementia in these patients was higher by 42%, and Alzheimer's disease by 92%.

The project manager, Dr.

Alexander Egeberg from the department of dermatology and allergology at Gentofte Hospital, a researcher at the University of Copenhagen, said: "Especially dementia is affected by a subgroup of patients with rosacea who had obvious neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders".

According to Egeberg, rosacea can also be associated with other neurological diseases, such as Parkinson's disease. The reasons for this remain a mystery, but he advises doctors to pay special attention to dermatological problems in the elderly.

medbe. en.