Cutaneous Manifestations of Diabetes Mellitus

Abstract

Objective: To study the prevalence of cutaneous disorders in patients with diabetes mellitus. Subjects and Methods: All diabetic patients attending the Department of Dermatology, Al-Farwaniya Hospital, Kuwait, and diabetic in-patients with skin disorders were examined over a period of 18 months from March 2004 to August 2005. A total of 106 diabetic patients displaying 1 or more dermatological manifestations were identified and thoroughly examined for any skin disorder. The diabetic profile of the patients was obtained from medical records. Results: Of the 106 patients, 69 had only 1 cutaneous manifestation, 27 had 2, 6 had 3 and 4 had 4. Infections (68.0%) were the major cutaneous manifestations with fungal infection occurring in 41 patients followed by bacteria in 27. The second most common presenting symptom was pruritus. Hypertension (74%) was the most common systemic complication, and most of the diabetic patients who developed cutaneous manifestations were in the 40- to 60-year age group. Conclusions: The data show that infections were the most common cutaneous manifestation and hypertension the most common systemic complication.

Skin Manifestations in Diabetic Patients Attending a Diabetic Clinic in the Qassim Region, Saudi Arabia

“…There was a statistically significant (p ! 0.001) difference in skin manifestations between our type 1 and type 2 DM patients, contrary to the finding in other studies [7,15,17] . Most of the patients (71%) with type 1 diabetes in our study had a brief duration of diabetes (group I).…”

“…Cutaneous infections (38.4%) comprised the second most frequent manifestation seen in our patients, similar to previous reports [14,17] . Fungal infections (28.1%) were among the most frequent cutaneous infec- tions, and tinea pedis (21.9%) was most frequent among fungal infections, a finding similar to that of a previous study [19] .…”

“…Equally, male patients outnumbering female patients ( table 1 ) had been reported in a previous study [15] . The majority of patients (98.2%) in this study had type 2 DM, as has been noted in other studies [16,17] , apparently reflecting the general distribution pattern of type 1 and type 2 DM cases in world populations [7,15] . There was a statistically significant (p !…”

“…Fungal infections (28.1%) were among the most frequent cutaneous infec- tions, and tinea pedis (21.9%) was most frequent among fungal infections, a finding similar to that of a previous study [19] . Among cutaneous infections, bacterial, candidal and viral infections were also seen in our study group, but they were fewer than in a study done by Al-Mutairi et al [17] , although viral warts and herpes zoster cases were seen in our patients but not in their study [17] .…”

Diabetes and pruritus

“…3 Al-Mutairi et al looked at the prevalence of cutaneous manifestations in 106 patients with diabetes mellitus: pruritus was shown to be the second most common cutaneous manifestation, with 49% of patients affected. 4 A study in elderly subjects showed diabetes to be a statistically significant predictor of pruritus. 5 In contrast, one study showed that generalised pruritus of unknown cause was especially common in people with diabetes (8/300 patients), but pruritus vulvae was significantly more common in women with diabetes (18.4%) compared with 100 non-diabetic controls (5.6%) and was strongly associated with poor diabetic control.…”