Skin Disorders among Elder Patients in a Referral Center in Northern Iran (2011)

Background. Geriatric health care has become a worldwide concern, but a few statistical studies were carried out about skin diseases in this age group. In this study, we set out to determine the frequency as well as the age and gender distribution of dermatological diseases in geriatric patients. Materials and Methods. In a cross-sectional study, all patients over 60 years who were accepted to department of dermatology in north of Iran participated in this study. Baseline information and clinical examination were done by a group of dermatologists. Biopsy, Pathological and laboratory methods were used in order to confirm the diagnosis. Results. 440 patients were accepted to the department that 232 patients were male (52.7%). Benign neoplasm was as the common skin disease among patients (65%), followed by erythemo-squamous (35.3%) and precancerous lesions (26.1%). The most common precancerous lesion was actinic keratosis (24.3%). BCC by 8.8% was the most prevalent skin carcinoma. Pruritus was the common problem in other dermatological disease (22%). Conclusion. Skin disorders especially precancerous lesion are among those important health problems in elderly patients in this geographic area. Increasing general awareness about risk factors of these diseases and doing more researches in other regions are highly recommended. 1. Introduction From 2000 until 2050, the world’s population aged 60 and over will more than triple from 600 million to 2 billion. Most of this increase will occur in less developed countries, where the number of older people will rise from 400 million in 2000 to 1.7 billion by 2050 [1]. In the most countries of the world, the proportion of people of over 60 years old is growing faster than any other age group: this fact is happening as a result of both longer life expectancy and also of what we can determine as the declining fertility rates. This population ageing can be seen as a success story for public health policies and for socioeconomic development; on the other hand, it also challenges society to adapt, in order to maximize the health and functional capacity of older people [2]. The United Nations statistical projections demonstrate a rapid growth of elderly population in Iran. While the proportion of people with 60 years old age and above in Iran was 5.4 percent in 1975, it will increase to 10.5 percent in 2025 and 21.7 percent in 2050 [3]. According to the Census of Population and Housing 2006 of Iran, population of the Guilan province in north of Iran was 2404861 people with 242850 (10.09%) aged 60 years and above. Indeed, the