Magnitude and associated factors of Atopic dermatitis at St. Paul’s hospital millennium medical college among children attending dermatology clinic, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia October 2021 – July 2022

Abstract

Background: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic non-contagious disease that affects the skin. It is characterized primarily by intense itching and the development of papules, scaly lesions, fissures, and crusting. Literature data suggest the incidence of atopic dermatitis in developing countries is gradually getting close to that of developed ones, in which atopic dermatitis affects 20% of the pediatric population. (1) There are only few studies done on the prevalence and associated risk factors of atopic dermatitis among children in Ethiopia. Objective: To identify magnitude and associated factors of Atopic dermatitis at St. Paul’s hospital millennium medical college among children attending dermatology clinic, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from October 2021 – July 2022. Methods: Institution based prospective cross-sectional study was conducted from October 2021 – July 2022 at St. Paul’s hospital millennium medical college dermatology clinic, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Questionnaire was prepared and used to collect data. Systematic random sampling technique was used after identifying average number of children between 2 months to 15 years old who visited the dermatology clinic daily. After data collection was completed data was coded and entered into Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 20.0 software for analysis. Statistical Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were applied to estimate the crude and adjusted odds ratios with 95% CI to determine the presence and strength of association. Result: Out of 417 children, 46 of them were diagnosed with Atopic dermatitis according to American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) criteria with a magnitude of 11%. Among these, 22 (47.8%) of them were male and the rest 24 (52.2%) were females. In this study the odds of AD were 6.2 times higher among children whose age is 2 months to 1 year old than those with age 10–15 years old. (AOR: 6.2, 95 % CI: 1.66-23.3).The odds of Atopic dermatitis were also higher among children who are not exclusively breast fed. (AOR: 4.069, 95% CI: 1.374- 12.053). The odds of Atopic dermatitis were 14 times higher among children who had personal history of asthma (AOR: 14.47, 95% CI: 1.46-143.2). Atopic dermatitis was vi significantly associated with paternal history of asthma or allergic rhinitis (AR) (AOR: 9.1, 95% CI: 1.5 54.3) or (AOR: 8.9, 95% CI: 2.2-36.0) respectively and also significantly associated with maternal history of allergic rhinitis (AOR: 4.9, 95% CI: 1.2-20.98). And the odds of AD were also higher among children those who had Sibling history of AD (AOR: 10.850, 95% CI: 2.0-58.4). Conclusion: On this study factors such as age of a child, maternal history of AR, paternal history of asthma or allergic rhinitis, personal asthma, sibling history of AD, and nonexclusive breast feeding were independent predictors of AD among children.