ESPE Abstracts

Background: Almost all diabetic patients eventually develop skin complications from the long-term effects of diabetes mellitus. Cutaneous manifestations generally appear subsequent to the development of diabetes but may be the first presenting sign, or even precede the diagnosis.

Objective and hypotheses: To detect the prevalence and spectrum of skin manifestations in type 1 diabetic (T1D) patients attending the Diabetes Endocrine and Metabolism Pediatric Endocrinology (DEMPU) clinic, Cairo University and to investigate the effect of the disease duration on these dermatoses.

Method: A prospective observational study was performed on 4221 subjects with T1D patients attending the DEMPU clinic were enrolled between December 2010 and September 2011. The overall prevalence of dermatologic manifestations was 3.6% (152 T1D patients; 74 males and 78 females) attending the DEMPU clinic. A detailed dermatological examination was carried out by a dermatology team and the cutaneous findings were recorded.

Results: The overall prevalence of skin manifestations was 3.6% (152 T1D patients; 74 males and 78 females). The mean age of the patient 8.38±3.79 years (range 1.5–15 years) and the mean total duration of diabetes was 2.80±2.86 years. Cutaneous adverse effects related to insulin injections (28.9%), cutaneous infections (bacterial, fungal and viral infections) (25%), allergic skin diseases (19.1%) and pruritus (15.1%) were the most prevalent cutaneous disorders among T1D diabetic children.

Conclusion: Early referral to the dermatologist helps to detect skin complications of diabetes in T1D patients and is essential for both prevention and management of these conditions.