With the aim to assess the prevalence and the main clinical correlations of skin lesions in diabetes mellitus, 457 diabetic subjects consecutively attending an outpatient clinic underwent a dermatological examination. Neurovascular foot lesions were excluded. Thirty-five of 64 IDDM patients (54\%) had skin alterations mainly consisting of vitiligo (9\% of all patients), psoriasis (9\%) and eczema (8\%). The most frequent skin lesions observed in 240/393 NIDDM subjects (61\%) were represented by infections (20\% of all patients) and diabetic dermopathy (12.5\%), while other lesions were not common. NIDDM patients with skin infections had a worse metabolic control, and those with diabetic dermopathy had a greater prevalence of neuropathy and large vessel disease than patients without skin lesions. These data show that the prevalence of skin diseases in a large, unselected diabetic population is higher than expected and indicate that, in most cases, a careful dermatological examination and a better metabolic control are needed in order to improve quality of life in these patients.
Skin lesions in diabetes mellitus: prevalence and clinical correlations.
DI BENEDETTO, Antonino;DI CESARE, Enrico;RUSSO, GIUSEPPINA;CUCINOTTA, Domenico Maria
1998-01-01
Abstract
With the aim to assess the prevalence and the main clinical correlations of skin lesions in diabetes mellitus, 457 diabetic subjects consecutively attending an outpatient clinic underwent a dermatological examination. Neurovascular foot lesions were excluded. Thirty-five of 64 IDDM patients (54\%) had skin alterations mainly consisting of vitiligo (9\% of all patients), psoriasis (9\%) and eczema (8\%). The most frequent skin lesions observed in 240/393 NIDDM subjects (61\%) were represented by infections (20\% of all patients) and diabetic dermopathy (12.5\%), while other lesions were not common. NIDDM patients with skin infections had a worse metabolic control, and those with diabetic dermopathy had a greater prevalence of neuropathy and large vessel disease than patients without skin lesions. These data show that the prevalence of skin diseases in a large, unselected diabetic population is higher than expected and indicate that, in most cases, a careful dermatological examination and a better metabolic control are needed in order to improve quality of life in these patients.Pubblicazioni consigliate
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