Demographic and clinical characteristics and risk factors for infantile hemangioma: a Chinese case-control study

To study the demographic and clinical features of infantile hemangioma in China; to learn in more detail the risk factors for developing this disease; and to identify clinical characteristics associated with complications, associated risks, and the need for systemic treatment.

A case-control study of 1832 prospectively enrolled children with hemangiomas and 1832 controls matched for age, sex, region, and hospital attending the dermatology department between 2005 and 2008.

Two large hospitals in central south China.

A total of 1832 children with hemangiomas.

Demographic and clinical presentations were summarized and compared with data from previous studies of hemangiomas. Predictive clinical factors for complications and/or treatment and potential risk factors for infantile hemangioma were analyzed by logistic regression.

The clinical features of our study patients were different from those of other race/ethnicity groups reported by previous studies with regard to the morphologic subtypes, complications, and predictors for complications and/or oral corticosteroid treatment. After adjustment, significant risk factors for hemangiomas included lower level of maternal education (odds ratio [OR], 0.61; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.57-0.66), mother engaged in manual labor (OR, 1.29; 95% CI, 1.12-1.48), multiple gestation (OR, 1.20; 95% CI,1.05-1.36), maternal medication use during the periconceptional period (OR, 2.08; 95% CI, 1.88-2.31), and a positive family history of hemangiomas (OR, 1.55; 95% CI, 1.40-1.72).

Besides yielding several new findings with respect to risk factors for hemangiomas, the current study also suggests that the Chinese clinical features of hemangiomas are somewhat different epidemiologically from those in the West.