Xerosis in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes: An Italian Multicentre Study

prospective, non-interventional, multicentre study was performed on a cohort of Italian patients with T2DM between April 2017 and January 2018. The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence of xerosis in patients with T2DM, defi-ning its severity and exposure to risk factors (e.g. sun exposure, employment). Patients aged ≥ 18 years affected by T2DM and followed up for ≥ 1 year consecutively attending the outpatient Clinics of Diabeto-logy and Dermatology at 16 Centers homogeneously distributed in Italy, were enrolled. Presence of xerosis was diagnosed by a dermatologist within the centre for diabetes care, performed as part of the diabetological follow-up. Xerosis was scored by Overall Dry Skin (ODS), Xerosis Assessment Scale (XAS), Scaling Redness Roughness Cracks/fissures (SRRC) and a 10-cm VAS scale for itching (6–9). Scales are reported in the supplementary information. The study was approved by the local ethics committee of each participating centre and written informed consent was provided by patients before any study procedures, in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. The results are presented as percentages or means ± standard de- viation (SD). Logistic regression and Student’s t -test were used to identify potential xerosis-related factors. Subjects without xerosis represented the comparison group for the analysis.

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