Prevalence of skin disorders among psychiatric inpatients

TL;DR

This study found that nearly 37% of psychiatric inpatients had skin disorders, highlighting the need for better skin care in this population.

Contribution

The study provides new prevalence data on skin disorders among psychiatric inpatients in a specific hospital setting.

Findings

Skin diseases were present in 37.2% of psychiatric inpatients.

Traumatic skin lesions were the most common type, followed by infectious and immunoallergic causes.

Schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and schizoaffective disorder were the top psychiatric diagnoses among participants.

Abstract

The interface between dermatology and psychiatry is complex and of clinical importance. Skin disorders in psychiatric inpatients are common, serious and under diagnosed.

The aim of our study was to assess the prevalence and profile of several skin diseases observed in psychiatric inpatients.

We conducted a cross-sectional study in the period from october,13 2023 to october,20 2023, among psychiatric male inpatients, hospitalized in psychiatry B department of the Hedi Chaker University Hospital (Sfax, Tunisia). We collected sociodemographic and clinical data using a pre-established form.

Over a period of a week, 35 patients were included in our study. The mean age of patients was 39,97 years. Among them, 80% were single and 14,3% were married. Addictive behaviors were reported in 74,3% of cases. The level of hygiene was good in 74,3% of patients. The three most common psychiatric diagnoses were schizophrenia (31,4%), followed by bipolar disorder (28,6%) and schizoaffective disorder (25,7%). We recorded 13 cases of skin diseases (37,2% of patients). Dermatological lesions were dominated by traumatic origin in 14,3% of cases. They were of infectious origin in 11,4% of cases, immunoallergic in 8,6% and parasitic in 2.9%.

The prevalence of skin diseases is high in psychiatric inpatients, for whom proper skin care is necessary to improve their quality of life.

None Declared