Epidemiology and determinants of facial telangiectasia: a cross-sectional study.

Background Telangiectasia or red veins are one of the prominent features of facial skin ageing. To date, there are few studies investigating the determinants of telangiectasia. Objectives We investigated lifestyle and physiological factors associated with facial telangiectasia in a large prospective Dutch cohort study. Methods Telangiectasia was quantified digitally from standardized facial photographs of 2842 North European participants (56.8% female, median age 66.9) from the Rotterdam Study, collected in 2010-2013. Effect estimates from multivariable linear regressions are presented as the percentage difference in the mean value of telangiectasia area per unit increase of a determinant (%Delta) with corresponding 95% CI. Results Significant determinants were older age [1.7%Delta per year (95% CI 1.4, 2.0)], female sex [18.3%Delta (95% CI 13.2, 23.6)], smoking [current versus never 38.4%Delta (95% CI 30.3, 47.0); former versus never 11.6%Delta (95% CI 6.6, 16.9)], a high susceptibility to sunburn [10.2%Delta (95% CI 5.4, 15.3)] and light skin colour [pale versus white-to-olive 31.4%Delta (95% CI 19.7, 44.1]; white vs. white-to-olive 9.2%Delta (95% CI 2.8, 16.0)]. Conclusions In this large cohort study, we confirmed known and described new determinants of facial telangiectasia.