Pattern of Skin Diseases in Patients Admitted to Dermatology Wards at ALERT Center from January, 2016 to December, 2020
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Date
2021-11
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Addis Abeba University
Abstract
Background: Inpatient dermatology pattern has been described only in few countries, similarly it has not
been done for ALERT Center. Epidemiological studies to determine the pattern of skin diseases are
important for proper health care planning and management. Identifying the patterns will help to stress on
groups of common skin diseases at all levels of health care so that proper diagnosis, treatment, and
referral can be practiced.
Objective: To evaluate the pattern of skin diseases of inpatients at ALERT Center Addis Ababa Ethiopia
Methodology: A retrospective analysis of admission and discharge record of Dermatology inpatient
department at ALERT Center from January 2016 to December 2020 was done. The five years record of
patients was analyzed focusing mainly on the number of admission, demographic profile of patients,
clinical diagnosis, readmission rate, length of hospital stay, and outcome.
Result: A total of 1823 cases admitted during this 5 years period were identified for analysis. The
common age group is 11 to 20 in females with 296 admissions and 21 to 30 in males with 156
admissions. 508 (27.92%) admissions were in pediatric age group i.e. below 18 years. The most common
admission is for infection 1250(68.57%) followed by Erythroderma 170(9.33%), Inflammatory Skin
Diseases 106(5.81%), Bullous Diseases 99 (5.43%), Connective Tissue Disease 27 (1.48%), Drug
Reaction 95 (5.21%), Ulcer 11 (0.6%) and Malignancy 6 (0.33%). The remaining 59(3.24%) cases are
others. Among infection diagnostic groups Cutaneous Leishmaniasis is the most common with 787
(62.96%) followed by Leprosy 218(17.44%) and Cellulitis 175 (14%). There were 12 cases of Wound
infections consisting 0.96% of infection cases. Classifying infections in four major categories namely
fungal infection, viral infection, bacterial infection and parasitic infestation, parasitic infestations are the
common once followed by bacterial infections. The numbers of parasitic infestations are almost twice as
much as the bacterial infections. The mean length of stay in hospital was 29.52 ± 42.76 days (Ranging
from 1 day to 1312 days). 545 (29.9 %) patients stayed 21 to 30 days which is the common length of
stay. Out of 1823 admissions there were 1584 (87.04%) discharges after improvement, 29 (1.59%)
patients left against medical advice, 25 (1.37%) referred to other facilities and 6(0.33 %) transferred to
other wards. 35 (1.92%) died and 42(2.30%) patients discharged with the same status. 102(5.60) patients
are with missing outcome data.
Conclusion: Infection, Erythroderma, Inflammatory Skin Diseases, Bullous Diseases, Drug Reaction,
Connective Tissue Disease, Ulcer and Malignancy were the common conditions for the admission in a
descending order. Policy makers could take these data as evidence to allocate beds and other facilities for
Dermatological patients for better management of these subsets of patients. 68.57% of admissions were
because of infections. Among the infection admissions the top three cases are Cutaneous Leishmaniasis,
Leprosy and Cellulitis.
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Keywords
Skin Diseases,Patients,Dermatology