Pediatric Consultations to the Center of Dermatology and Venereology, Medical City Teaching Hospital During the Period from February 2017 till April 2018

Abstract

ABSTRACT:BACKGROUND: Skin Problems are very common in children attending pediatric hospitals, there are few studies of pediatric consultations to dermatological clinics and none from Iraq.OBJECTIVE: to describe the pediatric consultations attending the Center of Dermatology, Medical City Teaching Hospital.PATIENTS AND METHODS: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study. It was conducted at the Center of Dermatology and Venereology, Medical City Teaching Hospital between February 2017 and April 2018. All consultations from Children Welfare Teaching Hospital were included. Consultations were made for either inpatients or patients consulting the outpatient clinic of that hospital. Detailed information including gender, age, site of lesion, duration, symptoms, past medical history, drug history, family history, vaccination and developmental history were recorded. The requesting department for inpatient consultations was also recorded. Any diagnostic procedure performed at the dermatology center was also recorded.RESULTS: A total of 207 pediatric consultations were referred to the Center of Dermatology during the study period of 14 months. One hundred twenty seven consultations were outpatient consultations, and 80 were for hospitalized children. Male to female ratio was (1.3:1) in outpatient consultations and (1.2:1) for inpatient consultations. The largest number of outpatients consultations 48 patients (37.8%) were children aged (6-12 years), and 29 patients (36.3%) of hospitalized patients were in preschool age (1-5years). Referred children with pure dermatological compliant constituted the majority of the outpatient consultations (77.2%) while they constituted (26.3%) of the inpatient consultations. The other reason for referral was dermatological manifestations that were related to the general illness, this constituted (15%) of the outpatient consultations and (30%) of the inpatient consultations. About (7.9%) of outpatient consultations and (43.%) inpatient consultations were referred for skin diseases unrelated to their systemic illness. The largest number of consultations came from the general pediatric department (30%), followed by hematology and oncology department(21.25%). Biopsy was performed in (3.9%) of the outpatient consultations and (10%) of the inpatient consultations. Infectious skin diseases were the most frequent established diagnosis in both outpatient and inpatient consultations (37% and 38.75% respectively), Drug eruptions were the second most common established diagnosis in the inpatient consultations (8.75%), while papulosquamus eruptions were the second common diagnosis in the outpatient consultations (16.5%). Genetic diseases were seen in (6.3%) of outpatient consultations and (8.75%) of inpatient consultations. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS: Pediatric consultations constituted an important part of the dermatologist work. This is the first study of pediatric consultations to a department of dermatology in Iraq. Dermatological training is recommended for pediatricians so that they can deal with simple dermatological problems. Pediatric dermatology is a emergent and important subspecialty in dermatology. KEYWORDS: Pediatric, consultation, Dermatology, Center