Prevalence of pediatric dermatoses in a university hospital in southeastern Brazil.

BACKGROUND Numerous dermatoses affects children, depending on age, region and socioeconomic status. OBJECTIVE To determine the prevalence of pediatric dermatoses at the Dermatology Department of a University Hospital, involving the diagnosis, age and sex. METHODS Epidemiologic cross-sectional study carried out in the period between July 2006 and December 2007. There were reviewed the handbooks of 264 patients from the Pediatric Dermatology Department of a University Hospital in this period. The dependent variable was the existence or not of dermatoses in children of age up to 19 years. Independent variables were: clinical diagnosis, sex and age. RESULTS Of the 264 handbooks reviewed, there was a higher prevalence of allergic dermatoses in 74 cases (28,0%), followed by inflammatory dermatoses in 49 cases (18,6%), pigmentary dermatoses in 42 cases (15,9%), infectious dermatoses with 38 cases (14,4%), benign tumors in 25 cases (9,5%), miscellaneous in 14 cases (5,3%), genodermatosis with 12 cases (4,5%) and skin annexes disorders with 10 cases (3,8%). The infants represented 11,3 % of the total, the pre-school 15,9 %, the schoolboys 48,8 %, and the adolescents 23,8 %. There was greater prevalence of allergic dermatoses in pre-school with 15 cases (35,7%), infants with 10 cases (33,3%) and schoolboys with 39 cases (30,2 %). Among adolescents are highlighted inflammatory dermatoses. The study showed no statistical differences between sex and age. CONCLUSIONS The study of the epidemiological profile makes easy the diagnosis of pediatric dermatoses encouraging good history and search for prevention.