Clinical and demographic features of hidradenitis suppurativa: a multicentre study of 1221 patients with an analysis of risk factors associated with disease severity.

BACKGROUND: Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic, relapsing and debilitating inflammatory disease associated with profound morbidity. AIM: In this multicentre study, we investigated the demographic and clinical features of HS, and determined risk factors of disease severity. METHODS: In total, 1221 patients diagnosed with HS from 29 centres were enrolled, and the medical records of each patient were reviewed. RESULTS: The mean age of disease onset was 26.2 ± 10.4 years, and almost 70% (n = 849) of patients were current or former smokers. Mean disease duration was 8.9 ± 8.4 years with a delay in diagnosis of 5.8 ± 3.91 years. Just over a fifth (21%; n = 256) of patients had a family history of HS. The axillary, genital and neck regions were more frequently affected in men than in women, and the inframammary region was more frequently affected in women than in men (P < 0.05 for all). Acne (40.8%), pilonidal sinus (23.6%) and diabetes mellitus (12.6%) were the most prevalent associated diseases. Of the various therapies used, antibiotics (76.4%) were most common followed by retinoids (41.7%), surgical interventions (32.0%) and biologic agents (15.4%). Logistic regression analysis revealed that the most important determinants of disease severity were male sex (OR = 2.21) and involvement of the genitals (OR = 3.39) and inguinal region (OR = 2.25). More severe disease was associated with comorbidity, longer disease duration, longer diagnosis delay and a higher number of smoking pack-years. CONCLUSIONS: Our nationwide cohort study found demographic and clinical variation in HS, which may help broaden the understanding of HS and factors associated with disease severity.

An update on cutaneous melanoma in Turkey: evaluation of 19-year data in a single tertiary centre and review of the literature.

BACKGROUND: Information on frequency of melanoma and its clinicopathological subtypes derived from dermatology clinics in Turkey is limited. OBJECTIVE: As data about melanoma show clear differences due to geographic and ethnic distribution, we scrutinized the rich data of our dermatology centre in Istanbul. METHODS: Consecutive patients diagnosed with melanoma in a tertiary dermatology clinic during the last 19 years were retrospectively investigated about the clinical presentation of the skin lesions during admission, frequency of subtypes and localization of the tumour. RESULTS: There were 227 patients with melanoma showing five different clinical presentations: 200 of them had totally 207 primary cutaneous melanoma (PCM) lesions, nine had PCM lesions associated with metastatic skin lesions, three presented with local recurrence, eight with only skin metastases and seven with regressed skin melanoma following systemic melanoma metastases. Histologically, 23.19% of the PCM lesions were intraepidermal (in situ) and Breslow thickness was less than 1 mm in 30.9% of the patients with invasive melanoma. The most common subtype was superficial spreading melanoma (SSM) (37.19%), followed by lentigo malignant melanoma (LMM) (31.4%), acral lentiginous melanoma (ALM) (19.32%) and nodular melanoma (NM) (6.76%). Head and neck region was the most common (34.78%) localization of PCM lesions. CONCLUSIONS: Different clinical presentations, including various types of cutaneous melanoma metastases, were seen. However, a great proportion of our patients were relatively early diagnosed, either having an in situ or an invasive PCM with a Breslow thickness ≤1 mm. Even though SSM was the most common subtype of PCM in our series, its rate was lower compared to many European countries. Furthermore, the rate of NM subtype was also low, while LMM and ALM rates were higher in comparison to studies originating from European countries. This striking discrepancy requires further studies to explain the probable causes.