Psoriasis in children and adolescents: Epidemiological study of 280 patients from Mexico

Abstract

Background: Psoriasis in children and adolescents has not been well studied in Mexico. Objective: To study the epidemiological characteristics of psoriasis in this age group. Methods: This is a retrospective study in an academic, tertiary care dermatology center from January 1999 to December 2014. We included patients ≤ 18 years of age, with clinical and histopathological diagnosis of psoriasis. We recorded the following information: gender, age, disease duration, clinical variant, nail involvement, treatment, and family history. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for analysis. Results: Of 2,491 patients with psoriasis, 280 were ≤ 18 years of age, resulting in a prevalence of 11%. There was female predominance and the mean age was 11.5 years. Disease duration was 18 ± 34 months. Plaque psoriasis was the most common form, comprising 191 cases (68%). Nail involvement occurred in only 15 patients (5%). Topical treatment was given to 177 patients (63%). Only 14 cases (5%) had a family history of psoriasis. These variables did not differ when children were compared with adolescents, except in those with a shorter disease duration (13 ± 19 vs. 24 ± 29 months; p = 0.0004). Conclusions: We found a higher prevalence of psoriasis than previously published studies in this age group and a lower frequency of nail involvement and family history of psoriasis.