[Prevalence of skin disorders in Sari, 2003-2004]

ABSTRACT

Skin disorders are the most common presenting health problems. According to dermatological researches, only scant studies estimated the prevalence of skin diseases in the general population. This study was performed to assess the prevalence of skin diseases in Sari, Mazandaran, North of Iran. This retrospective study was carried out on all of the patients referred to Boo-Ali Sina hospital in Sari, 2003-2004. All data such as diagnosis of skin problem, age, sex, marital status and job were recorded. Diagnosis were classified according to the international classification of diseases [ICD-10]. Results were analyzed with descriptive statistics using SPSS software. A total of 4460 patients with mean age of 28.01 +/- 16.2 years including 1807 [40.45] men and 2653 [59.7%] women were studied. Most of the patients [33.4%] referred in summer. The most common observed skin disease was appendices disorders [24%] the most common of which acne [55.8%] and androgenic alopecia [30%]. The second common problem was infections [23.3%] and dermatitis [19.8%] was the third. Irritant contact dermatitis [82.7%] was the most common form of dermatitis. We found that prevalence and distribution of skin disorders in the study area are different from those of other parts of Iran. More studies are needed to identify common skin disorders in Iran