A Review of Advancement on Influencing Factors of Acne: An Emphasis on Environment Characteristics.

Jianting Yang,Haoran Yang,Aie Xu,Li He

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2020.00450

Abstract

Background: Acne vulgaris is known as a commonly-seen skin disease with a considerable impact on the quality of life. At present, there have been a growing number of epidemiological, medical, demographic and sociological researches focusing on various influencing factors in the occurrence of acne. Nevertheless, the correlation between environmental factors and acne has yet to be fully investigated.Objective: To assess the impacts of individual, natural and social environmental factors on acne and to construct a framework for the potential impact of built environment on acne.Methods: A thorough review was conducted into the published social demographical, epidemiological, and environmental studies on acne through PubMed, Google Scholar and Web of Science, with reference made to the relevant literature.Results: The influencing factors in acne are classed into four major categories. The first one includes individual socio-economic and biological factors, for example, gender, age, economic level, heredity, obesity, skin type, menstrual cycle (for females), diet, smoking, cosmetics products, electronic products, sleep quality and psychological factors. The second one includes such natural environmental factors as temperature, humidity, sun exposure, air pollution and chloracne. The third one relates to social environment, including social network and social media. The last one includes built environmental factors, for example, population density, food stores, green spaces, as well as other built environment characteristics for transport. Acne can be affected negatively by family history, overweight, obesity, oily or mixed skin, irregular menstrual cycles, sugary food, greasy food, dairy products, smoking, the improper use of cosmetics, the long-term use of electronics, the poor quality of sleep, stress, high temperature, sun exposure, air pollution, mineral oils and halogenated hydrocarbons. Apart from that, there are also potential links between built environment and acne.Conclusions: It is necessary to determine the correlation between the built environment and acne based on the understanding of the impact of traditional factors (sociology of population and environment) on acne gained by multidisciplinary research teams. Moreover, more empirical studies are required to reveal the specific relationship between built environment and acne.

Highlights

Chinese cities face many health challenges posed by rapidly changing urban environments and lifestyles, especially non-communicable chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, respiratory diseases, diabetes and mental illness, which have replaced infectious diseases as major contributors to the overall disease burden [1]
The factors that affect acne are classified into four main categories: individual’s socio-economic and biological factors, natural environmental factors, social environmental factors and built environmental factors
An epidemiology in Singapore showed there were more males than females suffering from adolescence acne (61.3 vs. 38.8%) and more females suffering from post-adolescence acne (69.0 vs. 31.0%) [23]

Summary

Introduction

Chinese cities face many health challenges posed by rapidly changing urban environments (e.g., air pollution, water pollution, zoning and mix use of land, reduction of vegetation coverage and growing population density) and lifestyles (e.g., lacking physical activity, unbalanced diets, tobacco and alcohol use), especially non-communicable chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, respiratory diseases, diabetes and mental illness, which have replaced infectious diseases as major contributors to the overall disease burden [1]. Four major pathogenesis are involved in the development of androgen-induced increased sebum hyperproduction, altered follicular keratinization, inflammation and Propionibacterium acnes (P. acne) [2, 3]. It is affected by environmental pollution, social environment, changes of dietary structure and lifestyle, for example, worsening air pollution, the intake of sweets, staying up late, social network and social media. The prevalence of acne can impact the cost of drug treatment, and the psychological disorders associated with acne and quality of life. Acne vulgaris is known as a commonly-seen skin disease with a considerable impact on the quality of life. The correlation between environmental factors and acne has yet to be fully investigated

Results

Discussion

Conclusion