Generalised exfoliative dermatitis--a clinical study of 108 patients

This study was to investigate the epidermiological, etiological, clinical and prognostic aspects of patients with Generalised Exfoliative Dermatitis in Singapore. From 1981 to 1985, all patients with exfoliative dermatitis or erythroderma admitted to our dermatology wards were included into this study. A standard protocol was filled in for each patient, and they were subsequently followed up at our out-patient clinics. There were 79 male and 29 female patients (sex ratio 2.7:1). The average age was 61.5 years. Most of the patients were from low social income groups. Apart from scaling and erythema, peripherial oedema was the most common finding (44%), followed by hair loss (25%) and lymphadenopathy (22%), 15% of patients had haemoglobin level 10G/dl. The main etiological groups were eczema/dermatitis, psoriasis, drug reactions and those with unknown causes. Two patients were suffering from congenital dermatoses. None of our patients was casually related to malignancy. This study suggested that GED was not a fatal disease among our patients, and they often had a good prognosis.