Hernando I, González-López MA, Fernández-Llaca JH, Loricera J. [
Dermatological emergencies: A descriptive study in a tertiary hospital].
Semergen 2018;
45:156-163. [PMID:
30573365 DOI:
10.1016/j.semerg.2018.05.012]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2018] [Revised: 04/19/2018] [Accepted: 05/22/2018] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION
Nowadays, there is an increasing number of patients who seek emergency treatment for their dermatology complaints. However, it is unknown to what extent a skin disease is urgent enough to require immediate specialised care. Our aims were to assess the type and prevalence of the dermatological diseases treated in the division of Dermatology of a tertiary hospital, as well as to determine the main features of the patients with these disorders and the means of access to the Dermatology Department.
MATERIAL AND METHOD
A descriptive and prospective study was conducted on patients with dermatological conditions diagnosed in the Dermatology outpatient clinic of a hospital during a 5 month period. For this purpose, the information corresponding to health cover, basic epidemiological characteristics, origin, diagnosis, and destiny of each patient was entered into a database.
RESULTS
The dermatologist attended 242 patients, of whom 49% were women and 51% men. The mean age was 49.2 years. The 78 different diagnoses made were grouped into 12 categories to facilitate analysis. According to this classification, most patients had eccemas (17.8%), followed by miscellaneous (17.4%), tumours and cysts (16.2%), and infectious dermatoses (15%). In 7 (2.9%) cases, the patient was admitted to hospital.
CONCLUSIONS
Dermatological diseases attended to in the Dermatology Department were varied. The most common diagnoses were psoriasis, eccemas, and toxicoderma. The profile of the patient seeking emergency dermatological care is a person between the fourth and fifth decade of the life, who arrives directly to the Emergency Department without requesting previous assessment by a Primary Care physician. The most common reason for admission was erythrodermic psoriasis.
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