Characterization of elderly patients who present precancerous lesions

Abstract

Introduction: The skin is an organ where all the involutional changes typical of senescence are evident; which in turn increase the risk of developing different skin cancers. Therefore, it is of great importance to diagnose precancerous skin lesions early.

Objective: To clinically and epidemiologically characterize patients over 60 years of age with precancerous lesions.

Methods: A descriptive, observational, cross-sectional study was carried out on adults over 60 years of age treated at the Miguel Enríquez Clinical-Surgical University Hospital during the period 2021–2022. The sample was made up of the 100 patients who met the inclusion criteria. The study variables were age, sex, skin phototype, time of sun exposure, use of sun protection, type of lesion and anatomical location. Statistical methods for calculating percentages were applied.

Results: It was found that the most frequent precancerous skin lesions were actinic keratoses and keratoacanthoma and the most affected population was phototype II men. It was also evident that none of them used sun protection and the exposure time was always greater than 6 h. The location of the lesions was predominantly observed on the face.

Conclusiones: Las lesiones premalignas tuvieron un comportamiento similar al descrito en la literatura. Se evidenció que las variables epidemiológicas de edad, sexo y fototipo cutáneo influyeron en el desarrollo de las lesiones.