article · Clinical Cosmetic and Investigational Dermatology
Primary schoolchildren in Debre Berhan, Ethiopia, experience a high burden of dermatological conditions, with an overall point prevalence of 61.2 percent. An investigation combining clinical examinations and questionnaires identified several socio-demographic and behavioural factors linked to these conditions. Children whose fathers work as farmers face more than four times the likelihood of having a skin disease. Other significant risk factors include poor personal hygiene, a prior history of skin conditions, sharing clothes and towels with family members, experiencing physical trauma in the preceding month, and lacking health insurance membership. Most of the detected disorders are simple and readily curable. Providing targeted preventive measures and accessible curative health services directly to schoolchildren could substantially decrease the overall burden of skin disorders in this population.
Skin disorders affect a substantial majority of schoolchildren in this setting, yet the most frequent conditions are easily curable. Uncovering specific behavioural and socio-economic risk factors, including domestic item sharing and lack of insurance, allows health authorities and schools to deliver targeted hygiene campaigns and essential treatments, avoiding unnecessary childhood discomfort and preventing complications.
The abstract does not indicate a direct commercial product pathway, as it focuses on epidemiological survey data. However, the identified high prevalence points to an immediate need for low-cost topical therapeutics, diagnostic screening tools, and school-level hygiene products. Public health programmes, school health administrators, and primary healthcare providers would be the primary users of such solutions, which remain at the stage of needing organised public health implementation.
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Background: Skin disease affects people of all ages, yet children are one of the most common victims of it. Although some data indicate a high prevalence of skin disorders among Ethiopian primary schoolchildren, little is known regarding it, particularly in the study area. Hence, the study aimed to investigate the prevalence of skin disease and its associated factors among primary schoolchildren in Debre Berhan town, North Shoa, Ethiopia. Methods: Institutional-based cross-sectional study was conducted. The samples were chosen using a multistage stratified random sampling technique. Data were collected using both a self-administered and an interviewer-administered questionnaire. Children were clinically examined to detect and record the dermatological findings. A potassium hydroxide test was used to confirm some doubtful cases. The data were entered in Epi Info version 3.5.1 and analyzed using SPSS version 20.0. Variables with a p-value <0.05 were designated as having statistical significance. Results: The overall point prevalence of any skin disease was 61.2% (95% CI: 56.4-66.1). In a multivariable logistic regression model, a significant association between skin diseases and the occupation of the father being a farmer (AOR: 4.21, 95% CI: 1.06-16.63), bad personal hygiene (AOR: 1.78, 95% CI: 1.03-4.38), previous history of skin disease (AOR: 2.74, 95% CI: 1.41-5.30), exchange of clothes and towels with other family members (AOR: 1.50, 95% CI: 1.09-2.85), presence of trauma in the last one month (AOR: 2.09, 95% CI: 1.18-3.72) and not being a member of health insurance (AOR: 1.95, 95% CI: 1.16-3.28) has been found. Conclusion: The point prevalence of any skin disorder is alarmingly high. The commonest disorders found in this study were simple and could usually be cured easily. Hence, preventive and curative health services should be provided for these schoolchildren to achieve a considerable reduction in the prevalence of skin disorders.
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DOI: 10.2147/ccid.s361051
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