Clinical patterns of psoriasis Vulgaris in patients at Kenyatta national hospital

Abstract

Psoriasis Vulgaris is an inflammatory skin disorder with abnormal epidermal differentiation and hyperproliferation. It is a common, chronic relapsing, condition with a strong genetic basis. It presents with different clinical patterns e.g scalp psoriasis and inverse psonasis. There is no data on different clinical patterns of psoriasis in our set up The main objective was to determine the clinical patterns of psoriasis vulgaris at Kenyatta National Hospital. This was an hospital based cross-sectional descriptive survey. Kenyatta National Hospital: Dermatology clinic, medical wards, accident and emergency area. Patients who presented with psonasts vulgaris at Kenyatta National Hospital. History was taken from the patients and physical examination carried out. Biopsy was taken for histology to confirm the diagnosis. ELISA for HIV was done to confirm serostatus. Data obtained was entered, cleaned and analysed usmg Windows SSPS Version 14.2. Results were presented in the form of Pie charts, bar graphs and pictures. A total of 84 patients were screened and 70 fulfilled the criteria for recruitment, ranging from the age of 6 years to 65 years. There were 38 males, out of which two were found to be HIV positive and 32 females. Patients carne from different parts of the country with the majority corning from Nairobi, Central and Eastern provinces. Three patients were found to be related, Nine were alcoholics, 3 were smokers, two were on antihypertensives and one on antimalarial. The sites mostly affected were Trunk, Scalp, Elbow and Knee. Others were thighs, shin, arm and forearm. The most common morphological variant was annular. One of the HIV positive patient had lesions on the mons pubis, face and penile shaft . The duration of psoriasis ranged from 1 month to 467.5 months. The most cornmon variant of psoriasis vulgaris was the annular, affecting the trunk with 17% of body surface area involved. This is unlike the plaque type which affects the knees and elbows