A study of childhood psoriasis

Abstract

Aims and Objectives: This study attempts to find out the incidence of childhood psoriasis and the mean age of onset of the disease in children. Materials and Methods: A complete analysis of the out patient records of patients with psoriasis who had attended the Dermatology out-patient department for a period of 8 months between September 2011 and April 2012 was done. All the demographic details were collected and the age at presentation of the disease was also noted. Observation and Results: The incidence of childhood psoriasis was thus observed to be 17.15%. The incidence of psoriasis in male children and female children was thus observed to be 49.15% and 50.84% respectively. The mean age of onset of childhood psoriasis in boys was observed to be 12.8 years and in girls, it was observed to be 13.8 years. The male female ratio was observed to be 1:1.03. Conclusion: The incidence of childhood psoriasis is thus seen to have an increasing trend in recent times. Whether this translates into an increase in morbidity needs to be analyzed further through a larger study.