title: A clinical and statistical survey of cutaneous changes in the first 120 hours of life.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The spectrum of dermatological manifestations during neonatal period varies from transient self-limiting conditions to serious dermatoses; the latter, fortunately few, are disproportionately stressful to the parents, who due to lack of specialized pediatric dermatology clinics frequently get tossed between a dermatologist and a pediatrician.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study was formulated to record cutaneous changes over the first five postnatal days of life and to statistically correlate those changes occurring in ≥ 11 neonates with three (parity, associated illnesses, and mode of delivery) maternal and three (sex, birth weight, and gestational age) neonatal factors.
  
  
  METHODS
  This descriptive, cross-sectional study at a tertiary care hospital entailed recording detailed dermatological examination of 300 neonates having some (physiological and/or pathological) cutaneous changes and their statistical evaluation using the Chi-square test and significance (P < 0.05) as above.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Superficial cutaneous desquamation (SCD), Mongolian spots (MS), and erythema toxicum neonatorum (ETN) were the first three common changes among a total of 15 conditions observed overall; these three, as also milia and icterus, revealed statistical significance with both maternal as well as neonatal factors. Lanugo and napkin dermatitis (ND) were statistically significant with respect to two neonatal factors and cradle cap (CC), a single maternal factor. Gestational age was of statistical significance regarding five cutaneous changes, associated maternal illness during pregnancy regarding four, birth weight as well as parity regarding three each, and sex of the neonate as well as mode of delivery regarding two each.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Despite observing a statistically significant correlation of eight cutaneous changes with three maternal and/or three neonatal factors, more extensive studies in neonatal dermatology are required for validation of these unique statistical correlations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Leprology and Venereology, Dr. D.Y. Patil Medical College, Pimpri, Pune, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Dinkar J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Sadana
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Leprology and Venereology, Dr. D.Y. Patil Medical College, Pimpri, Pune, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Yugal K
authors.initials: YK
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Leprology and Venereology, Dr. D.Y. Patil Medical College, Pimpri, Pune, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Nitin D
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Chaudhari
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Leprology and Venereology, Dr. D.Y. Patil Medical College, Pimpri, Pune, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Kedarnath
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Dash
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Leprology and Venereology, Dr. D.Y. Patil Medical College, Pimpri, Pune, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Alia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rizvi
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Medicine, Dr. D.Y. Patil Medical College, Pimpri, Pune, Maharashtra, India.
authors.forename: Sumit
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jethani
keywords: Birth weight; gestational age; maternal illness; mode of delivery; neonatal dermatoses; parity