China: New genetic evidence has highlighted how specific sleep patterns may influence the development of inflammatory skin conditions.
A study published in Clinical, Cosmetic and Investigational Dermatology by Peiquan Yang from the Department of Neurology, Guiping People’s Hospital, Guangxi, China, and colleagues, highlights that insomnia and sleep duration play distinct causal roles in diseases such as psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, acne, and urticaria.
The research revealed that frequent insomnia was associated with a higher risk of psoriasis (odds ratio [OR] 1.11) and atopic dermatitis (OR 1.08). Conversely, longer sleep duration showed protective benefits, lowering the risk of acne (OR 0.97) and urticaria (OR 0.98). Other sleep-related traits, including daytime sleepiness, snoring, daytime naps, and chronotype, did not demonstrate any significant impact.
The researchers used a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) approach to explore the causal effects of eight sleep traits on four major inflammatory skin conditions. Genetic data were sourced from the UK Biobank and FinnGen, with genetic variants linked to sleep traits serving as instrumental variables. To strengthen the reliability of their findings, they applied methods such as inverse variance weighting, weighted median estimation, and MR-Egger regression, along with sensitivity analyses to check for heterogeneity and pleiotropy.
The study led to the following notable findings:
- Insomnia was found to increase the risk of developing psoriasis.
- Insomnia was also associated with a higher likelihood of atopic dermatitis.
- Longer or adequate sleep duration was linked to a reduced risk of acne.
- Longer or adequate sleep duration was associated with a lower risk of urticaria.
- These associations were consistent across multiple statistical models, supporting robust causal relationships.
The findings emphasize the potential role of sleep in dermatological care. Since inflammatory skin diseases are often influenced by immune system dysregulation, sleep disturbances may worsen disease severity through pathways involving chronic inflammation. Recognizing and addressing sleep problems could therefore play a significant role in patient management and outcomes.
However, the authors cautioned that several limitations must be considered. The study’s MR design assumes that genetic instruments influence skin disease risk only through sleep traits, but residual pleiotropy cannot be entirely excluded. Moreover, the research was restricted to individuals of European descent, which limits the applicability of the findings to other ethnic groups. Sleep traits were largely based on self-reported data, which may not always capture accurate sleep patterns compared with objective methods like actigraphy or polysomnography.
Despite these constraints, the study strengthens the evidence linking sleep health to skin disease risk. The authors suggest that future research should involve multi-ethnic populations, longitudinal cohorts, and disease severity assessments, such as the SCORAD index for atopic dermatitis and the PASI score for psoriasis. Understanding whether sleep-focused interventions could reduce inflammation and slow disease progression could open new therapeutic avenues.
“The study highlights that not all sleep traits equally affect skin health. Insomnia and sleep duration appear to have a causal role in inflammatory skin conditions, underscoring the importance of incorporating sleep evaluation into dermatological practice,” the authors concluded.
Reference:
Yang P, Huang Y, He W, Chen T, Wei S, Zhao Y. Association Between Specific Sleep Traits and Four Inflammatory Skin Diseases: A Mendelian Randomization Study. Clin Cosmet Investig Dermatol. 2025;18:2509-2521. https://doi.org/10.2147/CCID.S541688
