Research Article - Biomedical Research (2017) Volume 28, Issue 2

Assessment of clinical diagnosis, age and gender differences of elderly patients applying to dermatology clinic of a secondary health institute in family medicine aspect

Occurrence of dermatological diseases can be affected by multiple factors. These factors are personal factors such as race, age, gender, heredity, personal hygiene, socioeconomic degree and environmental factors like climate, geographic region, rural or urban settling and profession. Treatments of dermatological diseases which rank amongst first five common diseases according to the data of World Health Organization are mostly treated by physicians who are not dermatology specialists. In this study, clinical diagnosis, age, gender and seasonal differences of patients admitted to dermatology clinic of a secondary health centre are investigated. Most common 10 disease groups are identified. The most common group of dermatological diseases (25.9%), i.e. papulosquamous and eczematous dermatoses, was seen in 1328 patients. The second most common group of dermatological diseases (25%), i.e. infections and infestations, was seen in 1282 patients. The findings related to this series of cases are, in general terms, consistent with the findings of other retrospective studies. Early diagnosis and treatment is possible for most of the diseases in elderly patients.

Author(s): Mehmet Kayhan, Ilhami Unluoglu, Serap Kayhan, Ugur Bilge

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