[Cutaneous infection in geriatric patients - about 656 cases]

ABSTRACT

Skin disorders in elderly people are frequent, numerous and variable. The goal of this study was to describe the distinctive features of cutaneous diseases in aged people in an outpatient clinic of dermatology. Two thousands and twelve patients files were studied. The age varied from 65 to 99 years [mean 72 years]. Most of the patients [47.5%] were in the age section 65-70 years with a predominance of male patients [55.1%]. The most common skin conditions were infectious diseases [32.6%]. Superficial mycoses were diagnosed in 30% of cases. Dermatophytoses were the commonest infections [52%]. Erysipelas was the leading cause of bacterial infections [26% of all cases]. Parasitic diseases [6.6%] were dominated by scabies. Skin disorders are certainly underestimated in our study. The low frequency of elderly seeking health care in dermatologic clinic in our series, could be explained by the predominance of young people in the general population. Cutaneous disorders in elderly are dominated by infectious and malignant tumoral conditions, the latter increasing with age