[Newborns dermatitis: about 116 cases collected in a university hospital in abidjan].

Aims: To determine the epidemiological profile of newborn dermatitis and to describe the different clinical aspects of the observed neonatal dermatitis.

Procedure: The study took place at the University Hospital of Cocody (Abidjan). The study was cross-sectional, descriptive and analytical, carried out on the basis of prospective recruitment. The study included newborns who were seen in outpatient or inpatient settings by 4 april 2018 to 23 August 2018 and in whom the pediatrician had observed cutaneous and/or mucosal lesions. The diagnosis was made with the collaboration of a dermatologist.

Results: During the study period, 116 newborns were identified. The age of the patients seen in pediatrics with dermatitis varied from 1 to 28 days, with a mean of 16.86 ± 8.4 days. The median age was 19 days. The most representative age range (32.8%) was 24-28 days. The sex ratio (M/F) was 1. In almost 2/3 of the cases, the children were born at term, 29.3% were premature and 5.2% were born after term. In almost 2/3 of the cases (63.8%), the newborns had a birth weight of more than 2500 g. Only 3.4% of newborns seen in pediatric consultations were referred for a dermatitis. The age of the lesions at the time of consultation varied from 1 to 26 days, with a mean of 06.19 days ± 5.13. In more than half (53.5%) of the cases, the lesions had evolved for less than 5 days. Transient dermatitis was more frequent (51.7%), followed by infectious dermatitis (32.8%). Transient dermatitis of the newborn was dominated by sweaty miliaria (40%). Infectious dermatitis were mainly represented by mycotic (68.4%) and bacterial (31.9%) infections. Bacterial dermatitis were composed of neonatal impetigo (83.3%) and folliculitis (16.7%). In almost half of the cases (46.1%) the mycotic dermatitis were represented by candidosis intertrigo and in 38.5% of the cases there was oral candidiasis. The other neonatal dermatitis observed were dominated by diaper rash (64.3%) (Photo 2) and congenital nevi (21.5%). More than half (57.1%) of the cases of toxic erythema neonatorum occurred between days 6 and 10 of life. Nearly half (41.6%) of the cases of sudoral miliaria occurred between birth and day 5 of life. More than half (57.1%) of the cases of sebaceous hyperplasia occurred before the 5th day of life. All cases of neonatal scaling and mongoloid spots were already present between birth and day 5 of life. The mean age of patients with transient dermatitis was 14.31 days compared with 19.41 days for those with the other dermatitis. The difference in age was statistically significant (p < 0.05). The transient dermatitis predominated in male neonates while the other dermatitis predominated in females, however the difference observed at the level of sex was not statistically significant (p > 0.05).

Conclusion: The diagnosis of neonatal dermatitis is not always obvious, especially on black skin where few publications have been published.