Profile of dermatology inpatients and admissions over a four year period in a tertiary level government teaching hospital in North India.

BACKGROUND Although dermatology is mostly an outpatient specialty, some patients with severe skin disease need hospital admission for management. There is a paucity of data regarding the profile of these dermatology in-patient admissions. AIMS We studied the profile of patients admitted to the dermatology ward of our tertiary care government hospital in North India. METHODS This was a retrospective analysis of discharge sheets of patients admitted in the dermatology ward from January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2017. RESULTS Discharge sheets of 2032 admissions for 1664 patients were analyzed. The most common diagnoses in the admitted patients were immunobullous disorders (576, 28%), connective tissue diseases (409, 20%), infections, including leprosy and sexually transmitted infections (179, 8.8%), psoriasis (153, 7.5%) and reactive arthritis (92, 4.5%). The mean duration of admission was 13.95±11.67 days (range 1-118 days). Two hundred and fifty-six patients (15.38%) were re-admitted, accounting for 368 (18.11%) re-admissions. Patients with immunobullous disorders (OR 1.72, 95% CI 1.29-2.28) and psoriasis (OR 1.62, 95% CI 1.02-2.55) were more likely to be re-admitted. Adult patients, those who were admitted for more than four weeks, those who had comorbidities, and those who developed a complication during the hospital stay also had a greater likelihood of being re-admitted. LIMITATIONS The retrospective design of the study, and the non-availability of data regarding transfers to other specialties or intensive care units and deaths were the main limitations of this study. CONCLUSION This study describes the profile of patients admitted in a dermatology ward of a tertiary care centre center in North India. The patient profile and admission characteristics associated with a higher probability of re-admission were identified.