[Newborns dermatitis: about 116 cases collected in a university hospital in abidjan]

To determine the epidemiological profile of newborn dermatitis and to describe the different clinical aspects of the observed neonatal dermatitis.

The study took place at the University Hospital of Cocody (Abidjan). The study was cross-sectional, descriptive and analytical, carried out on the basis of prospective recruitment. The study included newborns who were seen in outpatient or inpatient settings by 4 april 2018 to 23 August 2018 and in whom the pediatrician had observed cutaneous and/or mucosal lesions. The diagnosis was made with the collaboration of a dermatologist.

During the study period, 116 newborns were identified. The age of the patients seen in pediatrics with dermatitis varied from 1 to 28 days, with a mean of 16.86 ± 8.4 days. The median age was 19 days. The most representative age range (32.8%) was 24-28 days. The sex ratio (M/F) was 1. In almost 2/3 of the cases, the children were born at term, 29.3% were premature and 5.2% were born after term. In almost 2/3 of the cases (63.8%), the newborns had a birth weight of more than 2500 g. Only 3.4% of newborns seen in pediatric consultations were referred for a dermatitis. The age of the lesions at the time of consultation varied from 1 to 26 days, with a mean of 06.19 days ± 5.13. In more than half (53.5%) of the cases, the lesions had evolved for less than 5 days. Transient dermatitis was more frequent (51.7%), followed by infectious dermatitis (32.8%). Transient dermatitis of the newborn was dominated by sweaty miliaria (40%). Infectious dermatitis were mainly represented by mycotic (68.4%) and bacterial (31.9%) infections. Bacterial dermatitis were composed of neonatal impetigo (83.3%) and folliculitis (16.7%). In almost half of the cases (46.1%) the mycotic dermatitis were represented by candidosis intertrigo and in 38.5% of the cases there was oral candidiasis. The other neonatal dermatitis observed were dominated by diaper rash (64.3%) (Photo 2) and congenital nevi (21.5%). More than half (57.1%) of the cases of toxic erythema neonatorum occurred between days 6 and 10 of life. Nearly half (41.6%) of the cases of sudoral miliaria occurred between birth and day 5 of life. More than half (57.1%) of the cases of sebaceous hyperplasia occurred before the 5th day of life. All cases of neonatal scaling and mongoloid spots were already present between birth and day 5 of life. The mean age of patients with transient dermatitis was 14.31 days compared with 19.41 days for those with the other dermatitis. The difference in age was statistically significant (p < 0.05). The transient dermatitis predominated in male neonates while the other dermatitis predominated in females, however the difference observed at the level of sex was not statistically significant (p > 0.05).

The diagnosis of neonatal dermatitis is not always obvious, especially on black skin where few publications have been published.