Prevalence of Atopic Dermatitis Among Libyan Asthmatic Children

Abstract

Background: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common, chronic, relapsing, itchy, skin condition occurring in patients with a personal or family history of atopy, and there is clinical association among different allergic disease in a way that treating one of them will improve the other. Many studies worldwide showed presence of AD in asthmatic children with different prevalence among countries and showed clinical improvement in asthma control on treatment of atopic dermatitis. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess the prevalence of atopic dermatitis among Libyan asthmatic children. Methods: This is an observational cohort study on asthmatic Libyan children who were treated and followed up at Tripoli children hospital in Tripoli, Libya. It carried out on 300 children suffering from asthma admitted from pediatric outpatient department as well as from emergency department and asthma clinic over a period of 24 months; from December 2017 to December 2019. The parents were asked to complete a questionnaire to collect the needed information after their consent being taken. To assure the accuracy and consistency of the methodology (sampling procedure, measurements, and a collection of the data), a standardized protocol was prepared. Data were entered in SPSS statistical package and consequently were analyzed and presented as descriptive statistics. Results: The prevalence of atopic dermatitis among asthmatic Libyan children was 16.7% in our study. The results showed significant relationship between address and prevalence of atopic dermatitis. Conclusion. Further studies are required to address the ethnicity, environmental factors, skin type and others attributed to this problem and we recommend all pediatricians to look for AD in asthmatic children and treat it accordingly.