Relation of Acanthosis nigricans to metabolic syndrome in overweight and obese women.

OBJECTIVE: Insulin resistance appears to be the most likely underlying mechanism in metabolic syndrome. Acanthosis nigricans (AN) is an easily identifiable skin lesion and associated with insulin resistance. We aimed to determine the prevalence of metabolic syndrome and AN in overweight and obese women and the association between AN and anthropometric and metabolic parameters.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study included 250 women [mean age 24±7.05 years; body mass index (BMI) 30.7±9.24 kg/m(2)] who were admitted to our internal medicine and endocrine outpatient clinics because of simple obesity. All the patients were evaluated for AN. We used the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP ATP III) criteria for the diagnosis of metabolic syndrome.
RESULTS: A total of 46.4% of the subjects were diagnosed with metabolic syndrome. Patients with metabolic syndrome were older (26.2±7.7 vs. 23.5±6.2 years, P=0.003) and had more increased BMI (34.1±9.8 and 27.8±7.5 kg/m(2), P=0.0001) and higher homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) values (3.4±2.1% vs. 2.2±1.5%, p=0.0001) compared to patients without metabolic syndrome. In all, 40% of the all patients had AN. The rate of metabolic syndrome was greater in AN-positive patients (60%) compared to AN-negative patients (37.6%) (P=0.0001). We observed a significant correlation between AN and metabolic syndrome, especially waist circumference, high triglycerides, and low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, and a significant positive correlation was also found between the AN and BMI, fasting insulin,and HOMA-IR.
CONCLUSION: Our study suggests that AN is a simple and useful finding of physical examination, like waist circumference, for identifying patients who are susceptible to the metabolic syndrome.