RESUMO
PURPOSE: This article describes the prevalence of facial acne vulgaris in adolescents of Arequipa, Peru, in relation to ethnic characteristics. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study of 2214 healthy adolescents, 55.83% male and 44.17% female, 12-18 years old. Based on visual inspection, the severity of acne was classified into four grades. The adolescents studied were divided into three ethnic groups: whites, Mestizos, and Indians. RESULTS: Less than half of the adolescents (41.69%) had acne: 33.74% grade 1, 5.19% grade 2, 2.12% grade 3, and 0.63% grade 4. The prevalence of acne varied from 16.33% at 12 years to 71.23% at 17 years. At age 12 and 13 years, the prevalence of acne was higher in females, with the trend reversing over age 14 years. The overall prevalence of acne was significantly less in Indians (27.97%) than in Mestizos (43.08%) or whites (44.47%). More acne was found in postmenarche (39.90%) than in premenarche (20.99%). This trend was also true for the severity of acne. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of acne in the adolescents of Arequipa is significantly less than in Caucasians. Peruvian Indians have significantly less acne than Peruvian whites or Mestizos. It seems that ethnicity is an important predictor of not only the prevalence, but also the severity of juvenile acne vulgaris in this sample.
Assuntos
Acne Vulgar/epidemiologia , Etnicidade/estatística & dados numéricos , Acne Vulgar/etnologia , Adolescente , Criança , Feminino , Humanos , Indígenas Sul-Americanos/estatística & dados numéricos , Masculino , Menarca , Peru , Prevalência , Índice de Gravidade de Doença , População Branca/estatística & dados numéricosRESUMO
To evaluate the effect of altitude on adolescent growth and development, three groups of healthy, well-nourished youth of similar socioeconomic status and ethnic grouping who resided at sea level (n = 1262 subjects), mid-altitude (n = 1743 subjects), and high altitude (n = 1137 subjects) were studied. The following parameters were evaluated: weight and height in all subjects; genital and pubic hair development in the males; and the initiation of breast development and age of menarche in the females. At mid-altitude, puberty appears to start at a similar age, but lasts longer, than at sea level. At high altitude, puberty starts significantly later and is more prolonged than at sea level and mid-altitude. Our data reveal relatively little effect of altitude upon growth and weight-gain patterns or final attained heights and weights.