Clinico-epidemiological study of pityriasis rosea in children

Abstract

Introduction: Pityriasis Rosea (PR) is an acute self limiting disorder, thought to represent a viral exanthema. In majority of cases, the first manifestation is "herald patch" or "mother patch" followed by secondary eruptions. The secondary eruptions appears in crops at an interval of one to two weeks following appearance of herald patch and run parallel to the line of skin cleavage, and mostly appears on the trunk and proximal portion of extremities. Method: A prospective cohort study on the clinico-epidemiological pattern of PR in participants of age group below 15 years was performed over a period of three years. Results: a total 782 patients with clinical diagnosis of PR were treated at our OPD, among them 73 patients fulfilled the study criteria and hence were analyzed and reported here. Out of these 39 (53.4%) were male and 34(46.6%) were female child. Frequency of PR was highest among age group 11 to 15 years (57.5%), followed by 35.6% in age group 5 to 10 years and was lowest among group below 5 years of age (6.9%). Pruritus was found in 53(72.6%) patients. Seasonal variation was evident, with highest incidence in summer season, followed by winter and rainy season. Conclusion: in children incidences of PR increases with the age, it was slightly higher in males and was more common during summer season. PR was found to be more commonly associated with upper respiratory tract infections in children as compared to adults, however disease was found to run a similar course as in adults.