Prevalence of Sensitive Skin by Ethnicity
TABLE 14.2
Prevalence of Sensitive Skin by Ethnicity in Terms of Climatic and Environmental Factors
TABLE 14.3
Prevalence of Sensitive Skin by Ethnicity in Terms of Emotion
We found variations of prevalence according to different countries by using the same methodology for all these studies (6–13) (see Chapter 2) that could suggest that some variations could depend on ethnicity.
This is definitely a little quick shortcut if not foolhardy! These different factors are rather cultural, linguistic, climatic, industrial, and related to the level of pollution or lifestyle.
In any case, research is limited in these countries by the law, especially in France, which forbids to question a person about its skin or its ethnic group.*
We also performed a study in the United States (9) on a representative sample of the population (14), including ethnic groups.
With the help of an international polling institute (Paris, France), 1000 individuals from a national sample representative of the American population aged at least 18 years old were selected according to the quota method (sex, age, ethnic group, profession, area of living) (14) and interviewed via phone. There were 70% who declared themselves as “Caucasians”; 12%, “Blacks”; 13.5%, “Hispanics”; and 3%, “Asians.”
The prevalence of sensitive skin was similar in the four ethnic groups; it varied slightly from 43.2% for Caucasian to 52.1% for African American individuals, 46.6% for Hispanic, and 44.4% for Asian without statistical significance (P = .352) (Table 14.1).
Likewise, no statistical difference was noted in terms of skin sensitivity to climatic and environmental factors among the different ethnic groups (Table 14.2). Skin reactivity to emotion was not significantly different in the four ethnic groups (Table 14.3).
Hence, we can conclude that there is no relationship of skin sensitivity and ethnicity. This is not surprising because the definition of these groups is not supported by scientific data and because there is no reason for differences in neuronal sensitivity according to these groups.
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* Article 8 of the Data Protection Act 1978 prohibits freedom “to collect or process personal data that reveals, directly or indirectly, the racial or ethnic origin.”
