The Prevalence of Skin Diseases among Iraqi Infants

الملخص

Background: Skin diseases are common among infants. There are few studies done about the frequency of skin diseases among infants and mostly consist of a limited number of patients. Aim of the Study: this study was conducted to shed light on the frequency and different aspects of skin diseases among infants. Patients and Methods: a total of seven hundred and fifty-five infants and neonates were seen randomly in the outpatient clinic department of dermatology and venereology in Baghdad teaching hospital and in the outpatient clinic department in Al-Mansour pediatric hospital in the period from august 2004 to august 2005. the full dermatological examination was performed for every infant, and investigations were done when necessary to reach a complete diagnosis.Results: Seven hundred and fifty-five infants and neonates were included in this study, 50.5% were males, and 49.5% were females; 87 of them were neonates. Various skin diseases have been diagnosed in both neonates and infants. The most common five diseases in neonates were napkin candidiasis (11.5%), followed by umbilical granuloma (9.2%), napkin dermatitis (8.04%), skinfold candidiasis (8.04%), and seborrheic dermatitis (5.7%). Regarding infants, atopic dermatitis appeared to be the most common disease (23.4%), followed by napkin candidiasis (7.8%), seborrheic dermatitis (7.2%), napkin dermatitis (6.9%), and impetigo (5.5%). Other various skin diseases which can affect infants have been encountered.Conclusion: Skin diseases are common among Iraqi infants; the most common one was atopic dermatitis which constituted about one-fourth of total consultations in the out-patients clinic. Other common skin diseases were napkin rash and skin infections. In general, these findings are similar to those of developed and western countries