Sweet's syndrome: a retrospective study of 42 admitted patients in a Portuguese hospital.
BACKGROUND
Sweet's syndrome is the most common neutrophilic dermatosis, but its pathophysiology is still largely unknown and different subgroups can be defined.


OBJECTIVE
To assess the clinical/laboratory factors in a series of patients with Sweet's syndrome and search for significant differences between defined subgroups.


METHODS
A retrospective study of inpatient files with this diagnosis was made, and patients were included if they fulfilled the classical diagnostic criteria. Data were analyzed with the SPSS package, with a significance level of 5%.


RESULTS
Forty-two patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria, with a median age of 50 years. Females comprised 88% of patients, and disease onset occurred in autumn or spring in over 70% of cases. A previous oropharyngeal infection was described by 38% of patients, and a previous or concomitantly diagnosed neoplasm by 10%. In contrast with the literature, the lower extremities were also involved in the majority of patients, and arthralgia was the most frequent extracutaneous manifestation. On bivariate analysis, in patients who reported a previous oropharyngeal infection, the lesions were significantly more frequent in autumn, and a shorter inpatient stay as well as a lower temperature on admission and lower prevalence of arthralgia were observed in the same group.


CONCLUSIONS
The subgroup of patients with a previous oropharyngeal infection had a less severe form of this syndrome.
Borges da Costa
João
J
Clínica Universitária de Dermatologia de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal. joaobc77@hotmail.com
Silva
Raquel
R
Soares de Almeida
Luís
L
Filipe
Paulo
P
Marques Gomes
Manuel
M
D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011174:Portugal; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016463:Sweet Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology*