Abstract
Skin diseases and their complications are a significant burden on the health system of many nations. Epidemiological studies to determine the burden of skin diseases are important for proper healthcare planning. A paucity of data exists concerning the epidemiological status among patients attending dermatologic consultations in university-affiliated clinics in the Al-Majmaah Region (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), prompting a need for conducting this study in this area.
To identify the patter/spectrum of dermatological disorders in the outpatient setting by dermatologists in order to improve future patient care and cost reduction through physician education.
In this retrospective follow up, a multistage sampling technique was employed and 1006 patients with skin disorders were randomly selected from dermatology clinics between September 2011 and March 2012.
A total of 1006 collected patient’s data included males 47.2% (mean age 27.24±15.2) and females 52.8% (mean age 27.62±14.2). The patients were divided into different age groups as 0–10 (n=102), 11–20 (n=273), 21–30 (n=293), 31–40 (n=178), 41–50 (n=71), 51–60 (n=56) and 61 ears and above (n=33). The dermatological referrals randomly selected in the present study showed that the maximum number of disorders were present in patients under the age group 21–30years (293/1006). Eczema was the most frequent diagnosis, comprising 15.81% (159/1006) while acne 14.71% (148/1006) was the second most common diagnosis followed by dermatitis 12.33% (124/1006) among noninfectious dermatological disorders. The infectious dermatological conditions largely included viral infection 13.32% (134/1006), fungal infection 7.56% (76/1006) and bacterial infection 6.96% (70/1006). Under noninfectious dermatological disorders, the number of patients infected with eczema was significantly higher (p<0.05) in females 18.6% (99/531) as compared to males 12.6% (60/475). However the male exhibited significantly higher cases of dermatitis than females [male: 69 (14.5%) vs. female: 55 (10.4%), p<0.05]. Of all the infectious disorders related to dermatological conditions, the viral infection was more prevalent in males 13.7% (65/4750) and in females 13% (60/531). In the age group 21–30years (293), eczema 16.4% (48/293), dermatitis 11.3% (33/293) and psoriasis 5.1% (15/293) were prevalent among the noninfectious dermatological disorders. The infectious dermatological disorders showed the prevalence of viral infection 9.2% (32/293) significantly higher than bacterial infection 3.8% (11/293) and fungal infection 3.4% (10/293).
The spectrum of different dermatological conditions in Al-Majmaah Region (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia) is alarming and seems to be highly neglected by the community. Eczema was the most frequent diagnosis among all skin diseases and parasitic infections were the least frequent diseases in this study. Health education is therefore necessary to curb their spread, reduce the associated morbidity, and improve the health status of the population. This will provide a better understanding of the epidemiology of skin disorders.