Genome-Wide Association Study Identifies Loci Associated with Sensitive Skin

Abstract

Individuals suffering from sensitive skin often have other skin conditions and/or diseases, such as fair skin, freckles, rosacea, or atopic dermatitis. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have been performed for some of these conditions, but not for sensitive skin. In this study, a total of 23,426 unrelated participants of European ancestry from the 23andMe database were evaluated for self-declared sensitive skin, other skin conditions, and diseases using an online questionnaire format. Responders were separated into two groups: those who declared they had sensitive skin (n = 8971) and those who declared their skin was not sensitive (controls, n = 14,455). A GWAS of sensitive skin individuals identified three genome-wide significance loci (p-value −8) and seven suggestive loci (p-value −6). Of the three most significant loci, all have been associated with pigmentation and two have been associated with acne.

Keywords

• sensitive skin
• genome-wide association studies