The Correlation between Body Mass Index with the Occurrence of Skin Tag

BACKGROUND: Skin tag is a benign tumour of the skin with a soft consistency which commonly occurs in the flexure area. Skin tag often found in individuals with middle and old age. Until now, there are many of theories have been proposed to explain the mechanism of the skin tag, one of the theory is obesity. AIM: To determine the body mass index (BMI) in patients with skin tag. METHODS: This study is an analytic study with cross-sectional designs involving 32 subjects with skin tag and 32 controls. Diagnosis of skin tag was made based on anamnesis and clinical examination. All subjects underwent a physical examination (height and weight) to determine BMI (weight in kilogrammes divided by the square of height in meters). To analyse association between higher BMI with the occurrence of skin tag we use student t-test. RESULTS: The mean BMI in the skin tag group (28.1+ 3.9 kg/m^2) was higher compared with the control group (24.1 + 2.3 kg/m^2). Statistical analysis by Student t-test found the p-value < 0.05. CONCLUSION: We found a correlation between increased BMI with the occurrence of the skin tag.