RISK FACTORS OF SCABIES IN PATIENTS ATTENDING AT TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL

Objective: The objective is to find the risk factors among the patients attending department of medicine, OPD of Bahawal Victoria Hospital, Bahawalpur. Study design: Descriptive cross-sectional study Place and Duration of study: Department of Medicine, OPD Bahawal Victoria Hospital, Bahawalpur. From 1st March to 25th September 2017. Materials and Methods: It is a descriptive cross-sectional study. Study was performed in Department of Medicine, OPD Bahawal Victoria Hospital, Bahawalpur. People with scabies seeking care in Department of Medicine Bahawal Victoria Hospital, Bahawalpur, were selected for the study. Convenient type of sampling technique was used to calculate the sample size. Total number of 1082 patients of both male & female gender and of all ages suffering from scabies was included in the study. Subjects were assessed by gender, age, their residence (rural or urban), marital status, status of education, monthly income, itching, body part of itching, time of itching (day or night) and other things like sharing of clothes, sharing of towels, oral hygiene, washing hands, close contact with pets etc. Data was analyzed using SPSS computer software version 23. Results: Overall, there were 100% (n=1082) scabies patients were included, in this study, both genders. Itching was presented in 90.1% (n=975) patients, while 57.1% (n=618) patients were also having red lesions. Regarding the part of body involved in itching, 36.5% (n=395) and 67.5% (n=730) patients experienced itching on face & nipples, 44.4% (n=480), 76.9% (n=832), 63.7% (n=689) and 85.6% (n=926) patients experienced itching on web spaces, soles, wrist and around umbilicus respectively. 38.1% (n=412) patients experienced it in axilla and 66.6% (n=721) on palms, while 56.7% (n=614) patients experienced itching on genitalia. Out of 1082 patients, 91.7% (n=992) patients were having these symptoms at day time, 4.7% (n=51) at night time, while 3.6% (n=39) having these symptoms at both day & night time. Conclusion: According to our research scabies is more common among males due to more exposure of males to the external environment. People with weak immune systems and the elderly are more at risk of developing scabies. Scabies is more common among rural communities because of low standard of quality of life and poor health education. Keywords: Risk Factors, Scabies, itching, skin lesion