title: Epidemiology of Frequently Occurring Skin Diseases in Italian Children from 2006 to 2012: A Retrospective, Population-Based Study.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Recent estimates indicate an increase in the prevalence of skin diseases in children. Few large epidemiologic studies have examined prevalence trends in Europe. This study evaluated the incidence and prevalence of frequently occurring pediatric skin diseases (PSDs) in Italy as seen by family pediatricians (FPs).
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were retrospectively extracted from the Pedianet database (2006-2012) in children ages 0 to 14 years presenting with a skin disease at their FP. The incidence and prevalence estimates were calculated per year and stratified according to sex, age, and geographic area.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A mean of 145,233 children (52.1% male) across five Italian regions were registered with their participating FP for a total of 913,253 person-years of follow-up. The majority of patients were from the northeast (44.6%) and 37.7% were ages 5-9 years. Incidence estimates (new cases/1,000 person-years) for most PSDs increased from 2006 to 2012, the highest being for atopic dermatitis (AD) (14.1 vs 16.5), acute urticaria (10.1 vs 11.6), and contact dermatitis (9.3 vs 10.8), whereas psoriasis remained unchanged over the 7 years (0.61 vs 0.57). In contrast, prevalence estimates (cases/100 patients) increased two to three times for several PSDs, including AD (2.7% vs 8.5%), seborrheic dermatitis (0.5% vs 1.6%), chronic urticaria (0.4% vs 0.8%), and psoriasis (0.09% vs 0.22%). Differences in prevalence according to age range and geographic area were observed for psoriasis, AD, and urticaria.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study provides comprehensive evidence of the increasing prevalence and incidence of PSDs across Italy. Additional causality studies to address this important clinical and psychosocial problem are recommended.
authors: Pedianet Project, Padua, Italy.|Azienda Sanitaria Locale della Provincia di Cremona, Cremona, Italy.
authors: Anna
authors: A
authors: Cantarutti
authors: Department of Pediatrics, University of Padua, Padua, Italy.
authors: Daniele
authors: D
authors: Donà
authors: Department of Pediatrics, University of Padua, Padua, Italy.
authors: Federica
authors: F
authors: Visentin
authors: Department of Pediatrics, University of Padua, Padua, Italy.
authors: Eleonora
authors: E
authors: Borgia
authors: Pedianet Project, Padua, Italy.
authors: Antonio
authors: A
authors: Scamarcia
authors: Pedianet Project, Padua, Italy.
authors: Luigi
authors: L
authors: Cantarutti
authors: Novartis Farma Italy, Origgio, Italy.
authors: Elena
authors: E
authors: Peruzzi
authors: Primula Multimedia SRL, Pisa, Italy.
authors: Colin Gerard
authors: CG
authors: Egan
authors: Azienda Sanitaria Locale della Provincia di Cremona, Cremona, Italy.
authors: Marco
authors: M
authors: Villa
authors: Department of Pediatrics, University of Padua, Padua, Italy.
authors: Carlo
authors: C
authors: Giaquinto
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*