A study of dermatoses in patients attending pediatric OPD in a tertiary care hospital of Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India

Abstract

Background: Skin diseases in paediatric population are common all over the world. There is a wide variation in the presentation of Dermatoses in various studies. The variation among dermatoses can possibly be due to region of study, prevalent environmental factors, type of population studied, and hygiene and nutritional status and environmental factors. The objective of this study was to study prevalence, pattern of presentation and aetiologies of various dermatoses in paediatrics.Methods: A prospective, observational, single center study involving 500 patients of Dermatoses was carried out in a pediatric outpatient department. Detailed history, clinical presentation and other relevant parameter were recorded in a case record form and analyzed.Results: Majority of patients with dermatoses (39.40%) belong to age group of 6 - 16 years with male preponderance. Etiological analysis showed infections and infestations were most common dermatoses. Bacterial infection (184, 36.80%) was most common followed by viral (87, 17.40%), parasitic (51, 10.20%) and fungal (25, 5.00%) infection. Dermatitis was present in 30.6% patients. Diaper dermatitis (19 patients) was the commonest dermatitis present in infants while eczema and urticaria were the commonest dermatitis in school going children. Pyoderma was the commonest dermatoses in this study, present in 111 patients (22.20%) followed by varicella (14.40%), impetigo (12.80%); scabies (10.20%), eczema (10.20%) and urticaria (7.60%).Conclusions: Dermatoses in children are a wide spread problem which are responsible for significant morbidity in children. The high incidence of infections and infestations are possibly due to poverty, overcrowding, undernutrition, poor hygiene and lack of health education. Skin of the young children is more prone to develop skin disease.

Clinical Pattern and Frequency of Pediatric Dermatoses at Social Security Teaching Hospital, Lahore

“…(36.8%) most frequently followed by viral (17.4%), parasitic infections (10.2%) and fungal infections (5%) in their study, 12 Mustafa et al recorded 45.9% bacterial infections followed by viral (32.03%) and fungal (22.02%) infections, 17 however study by Javed showed fungal infections (15.7%) to be more frequent followed by bacterial infections (8.2%), 14 Rabia et al documented fungal infections (48.7%) to be most common followed by viral (33.5%) and then bacterial (17.7%), 3 These differences may be attributed to seasonal and climatic variations, pyoderma was the most common bacterial infection (35.29%) observed in this study population followed by impetigo (28.34%) and folliculitis (26.20%), Mustafa at al found impetigo (94%) to be the most frequent bacterial infection, Javed et al recorded impetigo (58%), furunculosis( 26%), folliculitis(9%), ecthyma (7%) as the common bacterial infections in the descending pattern, 17 Balai observed impetigo (59.57%) most frequently occurring bacterial infection followed by pyoderma (26.39%), 9 Geet also found pyoderma (22.20%) as the most common dermatoses in their study group" (n= 500). 12 Measles (38.27%) was widely spreading after varicella (30.8%), molluscum contagiosum (23.45%) in this study. Rabia et al observed warts (52.8%) as the frequently occurring viral infection followed by molluscum contagiosum (20.8%).…”

“…(M: F = 1.59:1) and Javed et al showing 65% males and 35% females. 12,14 The most commonly observed "dermatoses in this study were infections and infestations (68%), the similar results were found in many other studies like by Khalid A et al (63.2%), Thakare S et al (46.33%), Geet et al ( 69.4% ), Rabia et al found (75.1%) and Balai (40.60%), 3,12,15,16 Mustafa et al recorded that out of 1860 patients 949 (51.02%) had infections and 388 (20.9 %) had infestations". 17 In this study, "Bacterial infections were the most common (36.45%) followed by viral (15.78%), parasitic (7.99%) and fungal infections (7.79%), Geet et al also observed bacterial infections 31.96%, 32% 68.03%, 68% 0, 0% 0, 0%…”

“…Other related factors behind skin problems among children include lower education level among the parents, living situation overcrowded, unhygienic circumstances and parental lower status of socioeconomic. 12 Ratio of skin problems is higher in rural societies in comparison to urban societies. 13 "Pediatric dermatomes vary considerably from adult dermatoses in both presentation and clinical management needing special emphasis, it can be of short duration or chronic and recurrent creating psychological issues, 10,14 in developing countries, infections and infestations are predominant, whereas eczema has been found to be the more common in developed countries, 4,12 pediatric population constitutes the cornerstone of the community, skin diseases in children are observed frequently and their categorization are essential for the preparation of academic, health and research plans".…”

Clinical spectrum of childhood dermatoses during peak summer in a tertiary care centre

“…6 Infections were the commonest reported dermatosis in Gunjana et al study (59.2%) which is nearly similar to our study (54.64%). 7 Figueroa et al reported skin infestations to be more common among school children in rural Ethiopia. 8 The high prevalence of pyogenic bacterial skin infection (40.27%) was reported by Sabyasachi et al study and also by Ghosh et al (35.6%).…”

“…Page 818Viral infections included Hand foot mouth disease (HFMD) which dominated the viral infection group with 23 cases followed by chicken pox (10), Wart (9), Molluscum contagiosum(7) and Herpes zoster (3). Fungal infections included Dermatophytosis and Pityriasis versicolor with 42 cases and 8 cases respectively (…”