AT WCPD 2017
CHICAGO (FRONTLINE MEDICAL NEWS) – Hidradenitis suppurativa in children is often associated with comorbidities, especially obesity and endocrine abnormalities, a retrospective review of cases showed.
“When treating hidradenitis suppurativa, it is imperative to not only treat the skin but also to look for associated comorbidities,” Maria del Carmen Liy-Wong, MD, said in an interview in advance of the World Congress for Pediatric Dermatology.
According to Dr. Liy-Wong, a pediatric dermatology fellow at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, data in the medical literature about hidradenitis suppurativa in children is limited to a few case reports. As part of an ongoing project, which is believed to be the largest of its kind, she and her associates retrospectively evaluated the clinical characteristics, degree of severity, comorbidities, and management of hidradenitis suppurativa in 41 patients between the ages of 0-18 years; they were followed by the dermatology clinic at the hospital between January 1995 and January 2015. The researchers used a standardized data collection form to gather information from health records, and they performed descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis.
Of the 41 patients, 78% were girls; the mean age of onset was 11 years, and the mean age at diagnosis was 14 years. A positive family history was found in 24% of cases. The most common cutaneous lesions were papules and pustules (51%), followed by scars (39%), and 88% of patients reported associated tenderness and pain.
After using the Hurley severity grade to classify disease severity, the researchers found that 56% of cases were mild, 32% were moderate, and 12% were severe. Comorbidities were identified in 92% of the cases; the most common was obesity (73%), followed by endocrine abnormalities (29%) and menstrual irregularities (20%). The researchers also found that 70% of patients were treated with a combination of topical and systemic antibiotics, and that early onset of disease correlated with more severe disease (P = .03).
Dr. Liy-Wong acknowledged that the study’s retrospective design is a limitation of the analysis, but she said that a prospective evaluation in planned for the near future.
The study was supported in part by a grant from AbbVie. Dr. Liy-Wong reported having no relevant financial disclosures.
