Abstract
Scabies is a parasitic skin infection with intense itching. Scabies infection seriously impairs quality of life, while outbreaks in medical institutions cause financial losses. This study aimed to present the annual and seasonal trend of prevalence of scabies in the national population. Scabies cases were extracted from National Health Insurance Service database and its epidemiologic characteristics were assessed. To analyze the seasonality of scabies occurrence, temperature and humidity were included in the model as weather factors, and the per capita gross national income index was adjusted. The annual prevalence by age group was 0.56–0.69 per 1,000 persons until the age of 40 years and peaked at 3.0–4.1 per 1,000 persons in the age group over 80 years. The number of women diagnosed with scabies has been consistently higher compared to that of men since 2010. Mean number of cases diagnosed as scabies was lowest in spring, approximately 4,000 cases, when the average temperature was less than 5°C at 2 months prior, whereas more than 6,000 scabies cases occurred in autumn when temperatures exceeded 25°C at 2 months prior. This study presents the epidemiological characteristics and seasonality of all cases nationwide over 8 years and will help to establish control policies.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.