Prevalence of skin diseases in a dermatology outpatient clinic in Turkey. A cross-sectional, retrospective study.

Background: Dermatologic diseases vary widely as a result of geographic location, climate, socioeconomic status, and personal habits, and internal factors, such as age, gender, and heredity.

Objective: The aim of the study was to determine the main causes for outpatient visits in a dermatology outpatient clinic in Turkey.

Materials and methods: The outpatient clinic records of the Dermatology Department of Eskisehir Yunus Emre Government Hospital, dated between 1 January 2011 and 1 January 2012, were retrospectively assessed. Patients were grouped according to age, gender and clinical diagnosis.

Results: A total of 11,040 new patients with 12,174 skin problems were included in the study. The study group was 55.7% female and 44.3% male. The age range was between 1 and 99 years. The most commonly encountered diseases were: acne (13.1% of patients), fungal infections (8.5%), contact dermatitis (8.5%), urticaria (8.3%), psoriasis (5.5%), viral warts (4.1%), lichen simplex chronicus (3.0%), callus, atopic dermatitis, and seborrheic dermatitis (2.2% each).

Conclusions: It appears that certain skin diseases acne, fungal infections, contact dermatitis and urticarial cause serious health problems. Public health policies should be implemented in order to manage these problems rationally.