Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Trakya Universitesi Tip Fakultesi Dergisi, cilt.26, sa.2, ss.137-140, 2009 (SCI-Expanded)
Objectives: The aim of the present study was to examine the prevalence of pruritus in patients who presented to the outpatient dermatology clinic with skin diseases. Patients and Methods: A total of 521 patients (mean age 35.7±18.3 years; range 7 to 96 years) over the age of seven who presented to our outpatient clinic during July 2008 were enrolled in the study. All participants completed a specially designed questionnaire on demographic and clinical data. All patients who had felt itchy more or less over the area of their lesions within the past week were determined to be pruritic. The diagnoses were made based on the International Classification of Diseases. Results: Of all patients, 324 (62.2%) agreed to participate in our project. 194 (59.9%) patients reported pruritus within the past seven days. Of these, 29 (14.9%) had a diagnosis of dermatitis/eczema, 26 (13.4%) had urticaria, 21 (10.8%) had tinea infections, 15 (7.7%) had acne, 14 (7.2%) had psoriasis, 31 (16%) had pruritus of unknown origin and 32 (16.5%) had another diagnosis. Conclusion: In this study, the prevalence of pruritus of unknown origin was found to be high. Clinicians should be encouraged to carefully assess pruritus of unknown origin because of underlying systemic diseases. © Medical Journal of Trakya University. Published by Ekin Medical Publishing. All rights reserved.