Pediatric dermatology inpatient consultations: a retrospective study of 427 cases

Limited reviews of inpatient pediatric dermatology (PD) exist in the current medical literature.

We sought to profile the inpatient PD consultations at a large tertiary care children's hospital.

We reviewed the electronic medical records of 427 consecutive PD consultations over a 52-month period from January 2006 to April 2010. The age, gender, diagnosis, requesting service, number of skin biopsies performed, and reason for admission to the hospital were recorded.

Patients ranged in age from newborn to 17 years old: 18% were 6 weeks to 11 months of age. General pediatrics was the service that most frequently consulted PD (44% of consultations). The most common diagnostic categories included infectious diseases, graft-versus-host disease, dermatitis, vascular anomalies, and drug eruptions. The most common diagnoses when hospitalization was primarily for skin-related disease were infections and vascular anomalies. Admission for skin disease associated with a systemic illness was most frequently for infections and drug eruptions.

The retrospective nature of the study, its reliance on electronic medical records, and occurrence at a tertiary care children's hospital are potential limitations.

Information obtained from this study may be used to: (1) tailor teaching to relevant diagnoses for health care providers and trainees who care for children in a hospital setting, (2) inform clinicians about the array of conditions on which PD consultants provide input, and (3) understand the impact PD consultations have in a pediatric tertiary care center.