Publication:

An overview of skin disorders in under-fives over a ten-year period in a tertiary institution in South: South, Nigeria

Background Skin disorders can be a significant cause of distress to both children and their care-givers. The scope of prevalent skin disorders differ from one country to the other. Therefore an insight into the occurrence, patterns and distribution of skin disorders in a target group will be beneficial to inform care and provide support that is relevant to that target population. The aim of this study is to determine the skin problems prevalent amongst children that are five years and below managed at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Alakahia, Nigeria.

Methods This was a retrospective cross sectional study of children five years and below that visited the dermatology outpatient clinic at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Alakahia between the period of January 2006 and December 2015.

Results There was equal ratio of male to female patients with slight female preponderance. The eleven most common lesions were papular urticaria, atopic dermatitis, scabies, warts, vitiligo, molluscum contagiosum, tinea corporis, impetigo, seborrhoeic dermatitis, pityriasis rosea and tinea capitis.

Conclusions Skin disorders are common among children under five years. Allergic skin disorders, bacterial, viral and fungal skin infections, skin infestation (scabies) and pigmentary disorders (vitiligo) are major skin manifestations in this study.