Study of clinical spectrum of pediatric dermatoses in patients attending a Tertiary Care Center in North Kerala

Abstract

Introduction: Skin diseases are a major health problem in the pediatric age group. Aim: To determine the prevalence and clinical characteristics of different pediatric dermatoses in a tertiary care centre in Kerala. Materials and Methods: Children with age 18 years and below with clinical evidence of cutaneous disorders were studied. Results: 500 cases were studied which showed a female preponderance of 51.4%. The most common dermatoses was infections and infestations (33.8%) followed by eczemas (32.6%), disorders of sweat and sebaceous glands (7.4%), keratinisation and paulosquamous disorders (4%). Nutritional disorders were seen in 1% of children. 3.6% had photodermatoses, 2.6% had hair and nail disorders and 0.4 % had adverse cutaneous drug reactions. Conclusions: Fungal infection was the most common infection noted in the study, followed by viral and bacterial infection. Allergic contact dermatitis was the commonest exogenous eczema and juvenile plantar dermatosis was the commonest endogenous eczemas. Acne, insect bite reaction and miliaria were the other common dermatoses.

Keywords

• Allergic contact dermatitis
• infections and infestations
• insect bite reactions
• juvenile plantar dermatosis
• pediatric dermatoses