Background:: Aging is an unavoidable process affecting all organ systems including the skin. The elderly population is defined as people aged ≥65 years, and the elderly population is growing worldwide. The present study aims to determine the prevalence of dermatological diseases in the elderly patients aged ≥65 years and evaluate sociodemographic characteristics in this particular age group.
Methods: The data of 300 geriatric patients aged ≥65 years who were admitted to our clinic between October 2013 and January 2014 were retrospectively reviewed.
Results: Of these patients, 130 (43.3%) were female and 170 (57.7%) were male. The mean age of the patients was 73.57 ± 6.80 years. Eczematous dermatitis was detected in 77 of patients (25.7%). Of these patients, 135 (45%) had xerosis. The most common benign skin tumor was isolated seborrheic keratosis (n=82,58%). Actinic keratosis comprised the majority of malignant and premalignant lesions that occurred in 25 patients (8.3%). Cellulitis was the most common bacterial skin infection that occurred in 21 patients (7%). The rate of lichen planus was 0.6% in males and significantly more common in females with a rate of 3.1% (p=0.09; p<0.05). The rate of xerosis was 39.2% in patients aged 65-74 years, 53% in patients aged 75-84 years, and 54.2% in patients aged ≥85 years. The relationship between age and the rate of xerosis showed a borderline significance (p=0.05; p<0.05).
Conclusion: Keeping in mind the most common dermatological problems in geriatric patients would enable early diagnosis of the conditions and selection of appropriate therapies.
Primary Language | English |
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Subjects | Health Care Administration |
Journal Section | Clinical Research |
Authors | |
Early Pub Date | March 18, 2022 |
Publication Date | March 18, 2022 |
Submission Date | June 6, 2021 |
Acceptance Date | November 16, 2021 |
Published in Issue | Year 2022 Volume: 39 Issue: 2 |
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.