Assuntos
Humanos , Lactente , Pré-Escolar , Criança , Adolescente , Tinha do Couro Cabeludo/epidemiologiaRESUMO
A one-year study was carried out on children in the age-group neonates to 12 years attending the Paediatric Skin Clinic at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital. Referrals to this clinic came from general practitioners, health offices from most of the north of Trinidad as well as the Outpatient Paediatric Clinics. The 340 new paediatric skin patients seen formed 20 percent of the total population of new cases seen in all skin clinics in the period under review. Atopic eczema (26 percent) was the commonest paediatric skin problem, and this together with tinea capitis (14 percent), scables (12 percent), papular urticaria (9 percent), seborrhoeic eczema (7 percent), viral warts (6 percent) comprised the six most common skin conditions in the age groups. Only the first four when severe tended to interfere with school attendance. The apparent preponderance of Afro-Trinidadians is consequential on geography and is therefore not significant (AU)
Assuntos
Humanos , Recém-Nascido , Lactente , Pré-Escolar , Criança , Dermatopatias/epidemiologia , Trinidad e TobagoRESUMO
Of 105 patients diagnosed as lupus erythematosus at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital between 1981 and 1986, 86 satisfied the ARA criteria for the classification of SLE, whilst 19 were clinically and histologically DLE. Fifty-eight SLE patients were of African origin, 24 of Asian origin and 4 were mixed. The ages of onset varied from 14 to 64 years, the majority presented in the 15 to 24-year age group. Of the SLE group, 55 percent had malar rash and 21 percent discoid lesions; this is higher than in the Jamaican study (32 percent and 14 percent respectively). Photosensitivity in the Trinidadian patients (20 percent) and the Jamaican patients (12 percent) was lower than that reported in temperate zones. These differences may be due to genetic and environmental factors. Direct immunofluorrescence (DIF) on 32 biopsies of non-sun esxposed (NSE) skin was characteristic of SLE in 80 percent cases compared to 30 percent by histology. Deposits of IgG, IgA and complement in the NSE skin are associated with a poor prognosis. IgM deposits were found in the NSE skin of 4 DLE patients; this probably represents a transitional phase to SLE, a benign state or a distinct subset of lupus erythematosus. This study confirms that DIF is a far more reliable and sensitive diagnostic tool than histology in the differential diagnosis of SLE and DLE, and in the early detection of SLE (AU)