Analysis of Dermatologic Consultations in Infectious Disease Inpatients

Hong, Seung Gi; Lee, Hyun Joo; Heo, Eun Phil; Go, Jae Wan

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Inpatient dermatological consultations are getting more important and, therefore, several studies of dermatologic consultation from various inpatient departments have recently been reported. However, data regarding the analyses of these consultations for infectious diseases inpatients are limited.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to analyze and quantify the patterns of dermatologic consultations referred by the Division of Infectious Diseases.
METHODS
We retrospectively reviewed 149 consultation reports for inpatients referred by the Division of Infectious Diseases from January 2014 to May 2019. We analyzed the medical records and noted age, sex, reasons for dermatologic consultation, diagnosis of the dermatoses, and change in diagnosis after the consultation in a single secondary referral center.
RESULTS
The percentage of patients who were referred by the Division of Infectious Diseases and consulted by the Department of Dermatology was 13.2%. The most frequent age group was the 7th decade of life (24.8%) and the male to female ratio was 1:1.04. The main reasons for dermatologic consultations were dermatologic disease not related to underlying infectious disease (43.0%), dermatologic disease related to underlying infectious disease (24.2%), and skin lesions related to the treatment (18.1%). The most common dermatoses were infectious disease (40.3%), followed by eczema (22.1%), and drug eruption, erythema and urticaria (19.5%). There were 10 cases in which the diagnosis of undetermined dermatoses was changed after dermatologic consultation.
CONCLUSION
This study revealed the distribution of skin disorders inpatients referred by the Division of Infectious Diseases for dermatologic consultation. In conclusion, dermatologists should take an active role in dermatologic consultations for more accurate examinations and treatment of infectious diseases patients.