European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Abstract

Introduction: Skin diseases in the paediatric population is a common community health problem with impact on the parents, children and society. The paediatric dermatoses has a wide variation in clinical and morphological presentation, which could be due to environmental factors, region of study, standard of living, per-capita income, education, type of population studied, personal hygiene, season in which study conducted and nutritional status of the person.
Aims and Objectives: To study the clinical pattern of various skin disorders and their prevalence in the paediatric age group under 18 years of age.
Material and Methods:  This is a hospital based cross-sectional observational, retrospective study conducted at department of Dermatology, Venereology and Leprosy, Government general hospital Suryapet, Telangana, for a period of 3 years (2019-2021). Out of 10,044 cases, 28.31% were under 18 years age. A detailed history including the biographic data was taken. General, physical, cutaneous and systemic examination was carried out. The data was collected and analysed.
Results: Out of 10,044 patients, 2,844 subjects under the age of 18 years were recruited for the study. 67.51% were males and 32.49% were females (M:F=2.07:1). The maximum number of patients were in the age group of 12-18 years (51.09%). Clinico epidemiological analysis revealed that infections and infestations were the most common dermatoses (60.76%) followed by dermatitis and eczemas (11.6%), appendageal(8.86%), keratinization disorders(4.85%), urticaria (4.85%), pigmentary disorders(2.95%), papulosquamous disorder(2.11%) vascular malformations (1.48%) and others(2.32%).
Conclusion: Paediatric dermatoses is responsible for significant morbidity in the children and society. Infections and infestations were most common dermatoses seen in our study and that could be due to poverty, overcrowding, undernutrition, poor hygiene, low standard of living and lack of health education. Early diagnosis would possibly decrease the transmission of infection and infestation that would in turn reduce the disease burden in the society.