title: Pruritus gravidarum: a clinical and laboratory study.
abstract: Five hundred pregnant women attending obstetrics OPD were screened for the presence of pruritus. The patients with other dermatological causes of pruritus (other than specific dermatosis of pregnancy) were excluded from the study. The selected patients were further subjected to routine laboratory investigations including liver function tests and IIBs Ag detection. The prevalence of pruritus in pregnancy was found to be 4.6% (23 cases). Ten patients were found to have specific dermatoses of pregnancy, including four cases of pruritus gravidarum and four of pruritic urticarial papules and papules of pregnancy. The prevalence of pruritus gravidarum was 0.8% of pregnancies. All the patients with pruritus gravidarum were primigravidae and had no clinical overlap with other specific dermatoses of pregnancy, jaundice, or intrahepatic cholestasis. One case of perinatal death was recorded among the pruritus gravidarum cases. This study has been helpful in determining the prevalence and severity of pruritus gravidarum in South India.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Jawaharlal Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research, Pondicherry, India.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shanmugam
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Thappa
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Habeebullah
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003872:Dermatitis / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008111:Liver Function Tests; D008403:Mass Screening; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D011537:Pruritus / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index