Mazaher Ramezani¹, Rozhano Mahmoodi², Afshin Almasi³, Asad Vaisi-Raygani⁴, Masoud Sadeghi^5,

Background: Skin disorders (SDs) consists of 12.4% of all diseases seen by the family physicians and a number of them need to biopsy. The aim of the study is to evaluate the epidemiology of non-malignant SD in the West of Iran. Materials and Methods: Between Jun 2012 to Des 2014 in a descriptive study, 401 patients with non-tumoral SD referred to the Special Clinic of Dermatopathology, Kermanshah city, Iran. We asssessed age, sex, referral year, residential place, referral season and clinical characteristics of SD in the patients . Results: The mean age at diagnosis for patients was 38 years. We divided patients based on age to 8 groups that most patients were between 25 to 34 years. . One hundred and seventy six patients (44%) were male. Two hundred and thirty eight patients (86%) were living in Kermanshah city. Autumn and then summer were the most referral season of patients with 30% and 29%, respectively. Four SDs with the most prevalence were discoid lupus erythematosus, psoriasis, lichen planus and morphea with 17.5%, 16.3%, 9.7% and 5%, respectively. Scalp (23.8%), cheek (21.1%) and hand (10.7%) were the most sites of biopsy, respectively. Conclusions: The definition of skin disorder prevalence is vital in planning for prevention and therapy in healthcare services. We can also use the results, for more focusing on more prevalent biopsy-based diagnoses in education of pathology residents in academic centers.

skin disorder, epidemiology, pathology, Western Iran