Frequency of skin diseases in Egyptian population during coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic: a hospital-based cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in remarkable changes in the profiles of diseases including dermatologic conditions. Aim To investigate the patterns of skin diseases in Egypt during the COVID-19 pandemic. Patients and methods In this cross-sectional study, we reviewed the data of patients who visited dermatology clinics between August 2020 and January 2021 and compared them with the data from the same clinics in the previous year. Results The total number of patients who attended the dermatology clinics between August 2020 and January 2021 was 803 as compared with 1611 patients in the corresponding period of the previous year (49.84% reduction). During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a significant increase in the frequency of allergic contact dermatitis, irritant contact dermatitis, pityriasis rosea, alopecia areata, erythema multiforme, vasculitis, herpes zoster, and chicken pox (P<0.05). On the contrary, some dermatological conditions such as urticaria and nonscarring hair loss had significantly decreased frequencies during the COVID-19 pandemic (P<0.05). Several skin diseases had unchanged frequencies during the COVID-19 pandemic. These included skin infections (other than viral infections), bullous disorders, some eczematous skin diseases, papulosquamous disorders, and disorders of skin pigmentation. Conclusion This study indicates a significant reduction in the total number of patients attending dermatology clinics in Egypt during the COVID-19 pandemic. The frequency of some skin diseases increased significantly, whereas other skin diseases decreased significantly or remained unchanged during the pandemic. Periodic evaluation of the epidemiologic characteristics of skin diseases is required at different stages of evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic.