Clinical and Epidemiological Characteristics of Atopic Dermatitis at Pediatric Age

Abstract

Introduction: Atopic dermatitis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease that begins in childhood.

Objective: To determine the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of pediatric patients with a diagnosis of atopic dermatitis.

Methods: A case series study was carried out at Hospital Pediátrico Universitario Octavio de la Concepción de la Pedraja, of Holguín, in the period from July 2021 to February 2022. The universe consisted of 120 patients and the sample was 82 cases selected by nonprobabilistic intentional sampling. Absolute and relative frequency analyses were performed for qualitative variables. The chi-squared test (X²) was used to establish associations between variables. An α = 0.05 was considered as the level of statistical significance.

Results: The infantile clinical form was the most frequent (61 %) and the female sex represented 67.1 %. Most patients had mild eosinophilia (18.3 %).

Conclusions: More than half the patients had the infantile clinical form. Bronchial asthma was the most frequently associated disease and food was the most recurrent triggering factor. Absolute eosinophil count was found to be positive in a high percentage of studied cases.