Psoriasis in Children

A prospective study of childhood psoriasis revealed an overall prevalence of 0. I% among the general skin diseases outpatients; 8.5 % of the Indian psoriatics having onset of their disease during childhood. The peak age of onset was between 4 and 8 years and the mean age of onset in the males was lower than the females by approximately 2 years. Family history was positive in 12.5%. Plaque variety was the commonest and guttate lesions were observed in only 25% of the cases, Itching was a promin ' ent feature of guttate lesions which were observed to be preceded in 50% of the patients by throat infection. The commonest sites were the legs, arms and the trunk. The face was involved more often than the scalp, the commonest site of affection in the adults. Nails were involved in more than 60% of the cases. The therapeutic response to coal tar treatment was satisfactory and the guttatc lesions responded well to treatmentwith penicillin. The pustularand erythrodermic varieties and psoriatic arthritis were rare in the paediatric patients.