Mattias A.S. Henning, Kristina S. Ibler, Isabella Loft, Henrik Ullum, Christian Erikstrup, Kaspar R. Nielsen, Mie Topholm Bruun, Henrik Hjalgrim, Erik Sørensen, Kristoffer S. Burgdorf, Susan Mikkelsen, Thomas F. Hansen, Ole B. Pedersen, Gregor B.E. Jemec
DOI: 10.2340/00015555-3790

The risk factors and disease implications of hyper­hidrosis are unknown. The objectives of this retrospective cohort study were to estimate the prevalence of hyperhidrosis and to compare demographic, life­style, and socioeconomic parameters in blood donors with and without self-reported or hospital-diagnosed hyperhidrosis. The study included blood donors from the Danish Blood Donor Study for the period 2010–2019. Registry data were collected from Statistics Denmark. Overall, 2,794 of 30,808 blood donors (9.07%; 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 8.75–9.40) had self- reported hyperhidrosis and 284 of 122,225 (0.23%; 95% CI 0.21–0.26) had hospital-diagnosed hyperhidrosis. Self-reported hyperhidrosis was associated with smoking (odds ratio (OR) 1.17; 95% CI 1.05–1.31), overweight (OR 1.72; 95% CI 1.58–1.87), “unemployed” (OR 1.60; 95% CI 1.24–2.08), “short education” (OR 0.76; 95% CI 0.64–0.90), and lower income (beta-coefficient –26,121; 95% CI –37,931, –14,311). Hospital-diagnosed hyperhidrosis did not differ from controls. Thus, self-reported hyperhidrosis was associated with potential hyperhidrosis risk factors (smoking, overweight) and disease implications (unemployment, low education level and income).

Hyperhidrosis is the medical term for too much sweating. It is not known if specific lifestyle habits increase the risk of sweating, or if sweating can negatively influence patients’ education and income. This study examined data for blood donors who had hyperhidrosis, diagnosed either in hospitals or by self-reported questionnaires. Additional data were collected on all participants from national registries and compared with data from blood donors without hyperhidrosis. Those with self-reported hyperhidrosis were more often overweight, smokers and had lower income and education than those without hyperhidrosis. Blood donors with hospital-diagnosed hyperhidrosis were not different from those without hyperhidrosis.

Table SI