Researcher Presents Findings On Skin Conditions Treated At Bustamante Hospital
By: , February 23, 2022
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Research conducted at the Bustamante Hospital for Children (BHC) from 2012 to 2016, found that the most common skin conditions among children treated were ringworm in the head, eczema, and allergic reactions to insect bites.
This was disclosed by Paediatrician and Senior Registrar at the hospital, Dr. Andrew Burton, at a JIS Think Tank on Thursday (February 17).
Dr. Burton was sharing the results of a research project, which won him the awards for Best Student Presentation, Most Impactful Poster Presentation, and the Best Overall Poster Presentation, at the National Health Research Conference 2021.
The research, titled ‘The Epidemiology of Dermatological Diseases at a Jamaican Paediatric Hospital’, was a retrospective descriptive study, which included outpatients of the Accident and Emergency Dermatology service in 2012 and clients attending the Dermatology Clinic in the Outpatient Department over a five-year period from 2012 to 2016.
Dr. Burton said that “tinea capitis (ringworm) is the most common condition that was seen across the children for the period of study and second was eczema or atopic dermatitis, which is characterised by some rough, dry plaques on the skin and the areas where you flex, the creases of the elbow and outside of the elbow, and around the knees”.
“The third was papulur urticaria, which describes allergic reaction to bites, whether from mosquitoes, ticks, fleas and sandflies,” he added.
The most common categories of skin diseases presenting to the Paediatric Dermatology Clinic are infections and infestations (42.5 per cent); eczema 27.7 per cent; and urticarias (allergic reactions) and erythemas (12.4 per cent).
Within the infections and infestations category, fungal infections were the most common subcategory at 23 per cent, followed by ringworm in the head – 16.5 per cent, atopic eczema – 12.2 per cent, and allergic reactions to insect bites – 10.6 per cent.
Impetigo, which is a bacterial infection of the skin, heat rash, and hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD), were among the top-10 skin conditions presenting among children at the Bustamante hospital.
HFMD, Dr. Burton explained, reflected the trend at the time because the disease has a seasonal variation.
Dr. Burton explained that the research team set out to look at the pattern and the types of skin conditions that present in childhood in Jamaica “because when we checked, there was limited data representing that in our country and also in the Caribbean”.
The study involved Paediatrician and Professor in Infectious Diseases, Dr. Russell Pierre, who was also Dr. Burton’s academic and research supervisor; Senior Medical Officer at the BHC, Dr. Michelle-Ann Richards Dawson; and Dermatologist at the BHC, Dr. Andrea Clare-Lynn Shue.