Serum lipid profile in female patients with severe acne vulgaris.

BACKGROUND: Acne vulgaris is one of the most common skin conditions affecting young adults. The relationship between lipid profile or lipid ratios and acne is not widely reported. METHODS: A case control study was performed in 90 females with severe acne vulgaris. Lipid profiles were measured, lipid ratios were calculated, and results were compared with 90 age matched healthy controls. RESULTS: Total cholesterol, LDL-C, HDL-C, Apo A1, though, were significantly higher in patients as compared to healthy controls but all the levels in patients were within normal range so we calculated lipid ratios for TC/HDL, LDL/HDL, TG/HDL, Apo B/Apo A1, Atherogenic index of plasma and found that all the ratios were significantly higher as compared to controls using a t-test. The area under receiver operating characteristic curve was > 0.7 for all the lipid ratios and sensitivity and specificity were calculated for all the ratios and it was highest for Apo A1/Apo B. CONCLUSIONS: We suggest using lipid ratios as a screening test in females with acne vulgaris to diagnose dyslipidemia at an early stage but further studies are required to see the effect of treating hyperlipidemia in females with severe acne vulgaris.

Endogenous hormones in postmenopausal females with breast cancer--before and after treatment.

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer is usually present for many years (as long as 5-10 years) before it can be clinically diagnosed (theory of the 'dormant malignant cell'). This implies that breast cancer cells, during their subclinical period, are likely to have been exposed for a considerable time to endogenous sex hormones and endogenous hormonal milieu predicts the chances of breast cancer in females. So, we planned this study to evaluate the role of endogenous hormones in postmenopausal females excluding the patients on hormone replacement therapy as the relationship between breast cancer and hormone replacement therapy is well known. METHODS: Hormone therapy is known to affect these hormone levels but whether treatment of breast cancer per se also decreases the hormone levels is not known. We planned the present study to determine hormone levels in patients before and after 4 months of treatment (chemotherapy/surgery and radiotherapy). Circulating hormone levels were measured using a chemiluminescence method. Their results were compared with a group of 25 age matched healthy controls. RESULTS: We found that serum prolactin, testosterone and estrogen levels were very significantly higher in patients before treatment (Group I) as compared to controls (Group III). Serum prolactin and serum estrogen levels were significantly higher and serum testosterone was very significantly higher in patients before treatment (Group I) when compared after 4 months of treatment (Group II). Only serum estrogen levels were significantly high in patients after treatment (Group II) as compared to controls (Group III). Serum progesterone levels showed no significant difference to any of the groups. CONCLUSIONS: We concluded that postmenopausal females with breast cancer have abnormalities in hormone levels. These abnormalities may be considered in the pathogenesis of the disease and should be taken into account in the treatment of patients of breast cancer. It might also be helpful to delay the onset of cancer by normalizing the levels of these hormones and in deciding the treatment modality for the patients once breast cancer has been diagnosed but further studies are required to prove the benefit of measuring serum hormone levels as a screening test.