Assessment of clinical profile of children aged 9–16 years with atopic dermatitis

Abstract

Background: Atopic dermatitis (AD) or atopic eczema is a chronic, relapsing, remitting, non-contagious, and highly pruritic skin disorder. Objective: The present study was conducted to determine the clinical profile of AD among children aged 9–16 years. Materials and Methods: A prospective hospital-based study was carried among children aged 9–16 years for a period of 2 years from July 2017 to June 2019. The children were examined and looked for signs of AD. A detailed history followed by physical and dermatological examination was carried out for the students diagnosed with AD. Results: Among 1124 students, the prevalence of AD was 1.9%. The majority of them were male (66.6%), aged between 9 and 11 years (76.1%), and hailed from the urban background (57.2%). The most commonly reported aggravating factor was sweating (52.5%). The mean age of onset and duration of illness were 1.14±0.35 years and 0.63±0.38 years, respectively. The majority of the respondents fell under the category of chronic AD (80.9%). The predominant site of involvement was flexor surface (66.6%) and almost all of the children were having a mild form of AD (95.2%). The association between males and type of AD was statistically significant (p=0.03). Conclusion: In our study, the prevalence of AD was 1.9%. We found that AD of chronic type, mild form, and on flexor surface was more common among the children of our study and the association between males and type of AD was statistically significant.