Dermatological emergencies: a Moroccan retrospective case series over a period of two years

Abstract

Introduction: a dermatological emergency is defined as an acute dermatosis evolving since less than 5 days and being life or functional threatening. The main objective of this study was to describe the epidemiological and clinical profile of patients seen for a dermatological emergency.

Methods: this is a retrospective case series, carried out over a period of two years [May 2018 - May 2020], including all the patients seen in the Dermatology Department for a true dermatological emergency. The descriptive analysis was carried out using Excel software.

Results: a total of 843 patients were collected. The mean age was 46.95 years, with a standard deviation of 15.69 and a slight male predominance (n=448). There were 709 adults and 134 children. The majority of patients came from central emergencies (n=451). The pathologies seen were in order of frequency: Infectious dermatoses (n=469) dominated by erysipelas in adults (n=302) and viral dermatoses in children (n=47); drug-induced skin reactions (n=160); inflammatory dermatoses (n=113) including erythroderma (n=36), urticaria (n=32), vasculitis (n=25), and erythema multiform (n=20); autoimmune bullous dermatoses (n=74); and physical skin diseases (n=27). Other specialists´ advice was needed for 231 patients. Biological involvement and imaging were required in respectively 536 and 421 cases. Only 235 required hospital admission, while the others needed an ambulatory care.

Conclusion: the pathologies seen in the dermatological emergency unit were dominated by infectious dermatoses, suggesting elaborating a medical program to improve the non-dermatologist physicians' knowledge about them.