Frequency of diabetes mellitus in patients with skin tags

Background and aim: Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disease with multiple complications. Skin tag is a pedunculated papule, which is more common in women and has been suggested as a cutaneous marker of diabetes mellitus. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of diabetes mellitus in patients with skin tags.Materials and methods: This descriptive study was done on 100 patients with skin tags. The investigation included fasting blood sugar (FBS) and glucose tolerance test (GTT).Results: 66 patients had normal FBS, 27 had diabetes mellitus, 5 had impaired GTT and 2 had impaired fasting glucose. Over all, 34 had abnormal glucose metabolism, 7 were unaware of their metabolic abnormality. Among 40 hospitalized patients 50% had abnormal glucose metabolism meanwhile 23.3% of 60 outpatients had this abnormality (p<0.01). No association was seen between BMI, obesity, gender, location and number of skin tags with abnormal metabolism of glucose.Conclusion: It is recommended to consider skin tags as a cutaceous marker for abnormality of glucose metabolism.