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.