title: Prevalence of skin diseases in hospitalized geriatric patients : Association with gender, duration of hospitalization and geriatric assessment.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Improvement of quality of life in old age and prevention of age-associated diseases have become the main focus of research into aging; however, information regarding the skin health status of geriatric patients still remains sparse.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the extent of dermatological diseases in hospitalized geriatric patients, map the most prevalent ones, check for any gender differences and document any correlations with duration of hospitalization and results of geriatric assessments.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 110 hospitalized geriatric patients underwent a complete dermatological examination at the Evangelical Geriatric Hospital (Evangelisches Geriatriezentrum) Berlin. The collected information was stratified according to dermatological diagnosis, results of geriatric assessments, duration of hospitalization, age and gender of the patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The average number of diagnosed skin diseases per patient was 3.7 ± 1.8 for the female population and 4.3 ± 2.0 for the male population. After categorizing all diagnosed skin diseases, infectious diseases were found to be most common in both female and male patients (55 % and 58 %, respectively) followed by vascular diseases (46.7 % and 54 %, respectively). Precancerous skin lesions and epithelial skin cancer were more frequent in men than in women (20 % vs. 6.7 %, p < 0.037 and 34 % vs. 13.3 %, p < 0.010, respectively). Pruritus showed a positive correlation with the duration of hospitalization and a negative correlation with the Barthel index and Tinetti score on the day of discharge, indicating that pruritus may have a significant impact on the physical condition of elderly multimorbid patients and on the static and dynamic balance abilities.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results demonstrate that skin health in the elderly is compromised and disregarded and this should constitute one of the top priorities of healthcare specialists and physicians in the future.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology and Allergic Diseases, University Ulm, Life Science Building N27, James-Franck Ring/Meyerhofstrasse 11c, 89081, Ulm, Germany. evgenia.makrantonaki@uni-ulm.de.|Research Group on Geriatrics, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Reinickendorferstr. 61, 13347, Berlin, Germany. evgenia.makrantonaki@uni-ulm.de.|Departments of Dermatology, Venereology, Allergology and Immunology, Dessau Medical Center, Auenweg 38, 06847, Dessau, Germany. evgenia.makrantonaki@uni-ulm.de.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Makrantonaki
authors.affiliation: Research Group on Geriatrics, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Reinickendorferstr. 61, 13347, Berlin, Germany.|Evangelisches Geriatriezentrum Berlin, Reinickendorfer Str. 61, 13347, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Steinhagen-Thiessen
authors.affiliation: Evangelisches Geriatriezentrum Berlin, Reinickendorfer Str. 61, 13347, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Nieczaj
authors.affiliation: Departments of Dermatology, Venereology, Allergology and Immunology, Dessau Medical Center, Auenweg 38, 06847, Dessau, Germany.
authors.forename: C C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Zouboulis
authors.affiliation: Research Group on Geriatrics, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Reinickendorferstr. 61, 13347, Berlin, Germany.|Evangelisches Geriatriezentrum Berlin, Reinickendorfer Str. 61, 13347, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Eckardt
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001604:Berlin; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005853:Geriatrics; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006782:Hospitals, Special / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006786:Hospitals, Urban / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D012737:Sex Factors; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012874:Skin Diseases, Infectious / Q000453:epidemiology; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology; D013223:Statistics as Topic
keywords: Gender; Geriatrics; Hospitalized patients; Skin cancer; Skin diseases