[Estimating the prevalence of atopic dermatitis in school students of jejudo, Korea].
OBJECTIVE
The frequency of visiting clinics in Jejudo for treating atopic dermatitis (AD) has been reported to be higher than that for other counties of Korea. The aim of this work was to estimate the prevalence of AD for the students of the primary, middle and high schools in Jejudo, Korea.


METHODS
We planned to evaluate about 5,000 students, so classes were randomly selected by random systematic sampling methods. The parents of all the students in the selected classes were asked to respond to a structured questionnaire concerned with the prevalence of AD.


RESULTS
The prevalence of AD based on ever being diagnosed by a doctor, on currently being diagnosed by a doctor, on ever being treated for AD by a doctor, on currently being treated for AD by a doctor was 25.57% (95% CI=25.3-25.8), 14.67% (95% CI=14.5-14.9), 21.90% (95% CI=21.6-22.2) and 14.41% (95% CI=14.2-14.6), respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
On comparing the prevalence of AD, the students in Jejudo had a higher number of recurrence events in spite of their lower number of cases. Further studies are needed to evaluate these aspects of AD.
Bae
Jong Myon
JM
Cheju National University Institute of Medical Science, Cheju National University School of Medicine, Korea. jmbae@cheju.ac.kr
Shin
Kyung Sue
KS
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D003876:Dermatitis, Atopic / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D016139:Martial Arts; D013334:Students; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires