Study of pattern of superficial dermatophytic infection in paediatric patients in tertiary health care centre

Abstract

Background: It is difficult to ascertain reliably the overall incidence and prevalence of the various cutaneous infections in different parts of the world because studies of one region of the country may not be a true representation of the overall disease pattern of that country; furthermore, incidence and prevalence figures may only be representative of the population sampling, which may have associated risk factors for infection. Most of the studies done in this field are dealt with adults or with a specific clinical form of dermatophytosis. Only few surveys were performed in pediatric age group.Methods: It is an observational type of study. The present study was conducted in Department of Dermatology, Rajshree Medical & Research Institute, Bareilly, from 1st march 2021 to 28th February 2022.Results: Majority of the study population belonged to 11-15 years (48.7%) followed by 15-18 years (24.1%). The most commonly affected sites were Groin (47.2%) followed by trunk (29.9%), buttocks (29.1%), and upper limbs (24.0%). The predominant lesion type was Plaque (43.5%). The most common lesion feature found in most of the study group was discoloration (94.1%). The most common diagnosis was T. corporis (29.1%) followed by T. corporis + T. cruris (28.3%), T. cruris (22.4%).Conclusions: Total 237 patients of superficial dermatophytosis were included in the study, out of which mean age was 9.16±4.241 with female predominance (52.3%). Common presenting complaints were itching (95.3%), affected site was groin (47.2%) and annular plaque was predominant type of lesion. The most common made in our study was T. Cruris (47.2%).