Pattern of skin disorders among pediatric age group cases attending a tertiary health care center

Abstract

<p class="abstract"><strong>Background:</strong> Skin diseases among the pediatric age group people are more common and it contributes to significant burden to health sectors. Also, the pattern of skin diseases changes consistently with reference to place and time. Hence the present study was conducted to assess the pattern of skin diseases in pediatric age group patients attending a tertiary care hospital.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Methods:</strong> The cross-sectional study was conducted by the department of Dermatology, Venereology and Leprosy at Sri Muthukumaran Medical College Hospital and Research Institute, among the pediatric age group patients attending the outpatient department, during the month of October to December 2019. A total of 412 pediatric age group patients with skin disorder were included in the study. The study was conducted using a proforma with the clinical history and diagnosis of the participants. Data was entered in Microsoft excel and data analysis was done using SPSS version 17.<strong></strong></p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results:</strong> The common skin disorders reported in this study includes infections (34.7%) followed by dermatitis (32.3%), infestations (11.4%), miliaria (8.3%), popular urticaria (7.5%) and urticaria (6.1%). Among the infections fungal, bacterial and viral pathogens contributes to 16.3%, 10.9% and 7.5% of cases, respectively. Also 11.2% of cases were found to be infested with scabies (9.2%) and pediculosis (2.2%).</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Conclusions:</strong> Skin disorders in the pediatric age group are common and showing increasing trend. Hence health education of the parents and the school children about good nutrition, hygiene practices, and proper hydration of skin can be promoting in order to reduce the burden of skin disorders.</p>