Prevalence of Hypopigmentary Disorders in Primary School Children in Zagazig City, Sharkia Governorate, Egypt

Abstract

Epidemiologic data are essential to understand implications of human diseases. Studying incidence and prevalence of specific diseases are fundamental in decision-making regarding allocating resources for clinical care. 1 If the goal is to understand and prevent disease causes in populations, then population-based epidemiologic studies are the gold standard to address major determinants of health and disease at this level and yield most accurate data. 2 Epidemiology is inevitably entangled with society, and it is not desirable to study the causes of disease in the abstract. 3 Epidemiology has contributed to better understanding of etiology, therapy, and/or prevention of skin diseases as detecting the association between psoriasis and cardiovascular disease, 4 identifying drugs associated with severe cutaneous drug eruptions, 5 and the association between UV exposure and melanoma, 6 but unfortunately, this type of studies is relatively lacking. 1The skin is not just an inactive covering of the body but a delicate active boundary and a vital organ of social contact 7 and performing epidemiological studies is very crucial to determine extent of skin diseases as a public health and to direct proper medical care. 8 Cutaneous hypopigmentations enclose a wide range of disorder, 9 which affect 4% of children 10 and represent third most common reason for patients with richly pigmented skin seeking dermatological treatment. 11 Most common causes of hypopigmentation especially in children include pityriasis alba (P. alba), pityriasis versicolor

Common Applications of Black Cumin Seed (Nigella sativa) Oil in Folk Medicine

“…In vitiligo, the skin's melanocytes (pigment-producing cells), mucous membrane, and retina are damaged, resulting in white spots in various locations of the skin 125 . According to estimates, vitiligo affects between 0.1 and 8% of the world's population 126 ,while its prevalence in Egypt is around 0.4 and 2% 127 . BCSO was shown to be more effective when combined with others than traditional vitiligo treatments or supplements such as fish oil in reducing size of vitiligo lesions since thymoquinone can mimic the function of acetylcholine and stimulates cholinergic receptors and induces the release of melanin and skin darkening 128 .…”

Pityriasis Alba: An update on the epidemiologic features, etiopathogenesis and management

“…The prevalence of hypopigmentation in the examined population was 45.4%, with pityriasis alba accounting for 58.3%, pityriasis versicolor accounting for 17.9%, postinflammatory hypopigmentation accounting for 10.7%, hypopigmented nevus accountting for 9.5%, and vitiligo accounting for 3.6%. (13) In a cross-sectional study in China on 2726 patients with PA for the first time revealed that the disease can be seen all year, with the onset peak occurring from July to August each year. It often happens between the ages of 1 and 14 just before puberty.…”

Prevalence and burden of vitiligo in Africa, the Middle East and Latin America

“…Higher prevalence in older individuals was reported in a large population survey in Brazil. 29 Vitiligo is among the most common non-infectious dermatoses in children and adolescents, 11,17,19,35 and several studies aimed to characterize childhood vitiligo in countries including Jordan, 14 Egypt 36 and Brazil. 30,31 Most paediatric vitiligo cases in these regions occurred in school-aged children (i.e., 5-10 years of age 14,30 ) with a mean disease onset approximately age 6 years.…”

“…In AfME, the reported prevalence of vitiligo ranged from 0.18% (in Egypt) to 4.20% (in Tanzania and Saudi Arabia) across several individual studies that included children and/or adults (Table 1 ). 4 , 5 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 14 , 16 , 19 , 20 , 23 Relatively few studies evaluated the prevalence of vitiligo in Latin America, with estimates of 0.04%–0.57% reported in studies in Brazil and Mexico (Table 2 ). 4 , 29 , 32 Studies included relatively few patients and there were substantial differences in the characteristics of the included populations (e.g., age, setting), limiting cross‐study comparisons of vitiligo prevalence across Africa, the Middle East and Latin America.…”