Pattern of Children Hospitalization in a Tropical Dermatology Department: Case of the Teaching Hospital of Conakry (Guinea)

Background: Skin diseases are important morbidity factors in both resource-limited and developed countries.Aim: The objective of this work was therefore to document the different reasons for hospitalization of children in the Dermatology-Venereology Department of the Teaching Hospital of Conakry.Methods: Patients aged less than or equal to 18 years hospitalized in the Department of Dermatology and Venereology of the Teaching Hospital of Conakry (Guinea) from January 2000 through December 31, 2014 were included.Results: During this period of 14 years, a total of 227 patients were recruited.There were 122 (54%) girls and 105 (46%) boys.The boy to girl ratio was 0.85.Bacterial skin diseases (44.5%), inflammatory skin diseases (27.7%), drug reactions (14.9%), viral skin diseases (9.2%) were the most frequent skin diseases.Skin infections, mostly erysipelas and necrotizing fasciitis, accounted for 58.4% of the bacterial skin diseases.Of the non-infectious diseases, toxic epidermal necrolysis (29.4%), acute urticaria (13.7%) and atopic dermatitis (11.7%) were the most common. Conclusion:In the Dermatology Department of the Teaching Hospital of Conakry, the reason for hospitalization of children is dominated by skin infectious, in particular erysipelas and necrotizing fasciitis followed by toxic epidermal necrolyses, with significant morbidity.An improvement in the socio-economic conditions of the population could reduce the prevalence of skin infectious in specialized hospitals.