Novartis dermatological study

Background/objectives:

Recent estimates indicate an increase in the prevalence of skin diseases in the pediatric population. Few large epidemiological studies have examined prevalence trends in Europe. This study evaluated the incidence and prevalence of frequently occurring pediatric skin diseases (PSDs) in Italy.

Methods:

Data were retrospectively extracted from the Pedianet database (2006-2012) in children aged 0-14 years presenting with a skin disease at their family pediatrician. Incidence and prevalence estimates were calculated for each year and stratified by gender, age and geographic area.

Results:

A mean of 145,233 children (52.1% male), across 5 different regions of Italy were registered as having at least one skin disease. The majority of patients were from the North Eastern region (44.6%) and 37.7% were aged 5-9 years. Incidence estimates (new cases/1000 person-years) for the majority of PSDs increased from 2006 to 2012, the highest being for atopic dermatitis (14.1 vs. 16.5), acute urticaria (10.1 vs. 11.6) and contact dermatitis (9.3 vs. 10.8). The incidence of psoriasis remained unchanged over the 7 years (0.61 vs. 0.57). In contrast, prevalence estimates (cases/100 patients) increased 2-3 fold for several PSDs, including atopic dermatitis (2.7% vs. 8.5%), seborrhoeic dermatitis (0.5% vs. 1.6%), chronic urticaria (0.4% vs. 0.8%) and psoriasis (0.09% vs. 0.22%). Differences in prevalence by age range and geographical area were noted for psoriasis, atopic dermatitis and urticaria.

Conclusions:

This study provides comprehensive evidence of the increasing prevalence of PSDs across Italy. Additional causality studies to address this important clinical and psycho-social problem are mandatory.