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BACKGROUND: The assessment of the prevalence of diseases is of primary importance in planning health policies. No complete data on the prevalence of skin diseases across European countries are available. OBJECTIVE: To estimate the prevalence of the most frequent skin conditions or diseases in 27 European countries (24 EU countries, plus Norway, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom). METHODS: We conducted a population-based study on representative and extrapolable samples of the general population aged 18 years or more in each of the 27 countries surveyed. Participants were selected using stratified, proportional sampling with a replacement design. Data were collected using a web-based online survey. All participants were asked to fill in a questionnaire with sociodemographic data and to declare if they have had one or more skin conditions or diseases during the previous 12 months. RESULTS: A total of 44 689 participants from 27 countries responded to the questionnaire, 21 887 (48.98%) men and 22 802 (51.02%) women. The proportion of participants who reported having suffered from at least one dermatological condition or disease during the previous 12 months was 43.35% (95% CI: 42.89%, 43.81%). The projection in the total population of the 27 countries included in the study resulted in 185 103 774 individuals affected by at least one dermatological condition or disease. Accordingly, we can estimate that more than 94 million Europeans complain of uncomfortable skin sensations like itch, burning, or dryness. The most frequent conditions were fungal skin infections (8.9%), acne (5.4%), and atopic dermatitis or eczema (5.5%). Alopecia, acne, eczema, and rosacea were more common in women, whereas men were more likely to suffer from psoriasis and sexually transmitted infections. CONCLUSION: Skin diseases are an important public health concern. Their high prevalence has to be taken into account in planning access to dermatological care to address patient needs.

Introduction Le prurit et les douleurs articulaires sont bien connus chez les patients atteints de psoriasis mais la prevalence des douleurs cutanees, souvent rapportees par les patients, est mal connue. Nous voulions evaluer la presence, la frequence et les caracteristiques de la douleur cutanee chez les patients atteints de psoriasis. Materiel et methodes Un echantillon representatif compose de 5000 individus de la population francaise âgee de 18 a 80 ans a ete interroge. La douleur et la qualite de vie ont ete evaluees. L’intensite de la douleur etait mesuree par une echelle visuelle analogique et une composante neuropathique etait recherchee par DN4. La qualite de vie etait mesuree par DLQI et SF-12. Nos resultats ont confirme que pres de 5 % de la population francaise a declare souffrir de psoriasis et que les personnes atteintes de psoriasis etaient plus souvent des fumeurs que les temoins. Resultats Cette etude a montre que des douleurs cutanees sont rapportees par un tiers des patients atteints de psoriasis, avec une intensite de pres de 6/10 et des consequences sur la qualite de vie (evaluees par des mesures DLQI et SF-12). La qualite de vie etait plus alteree en cas de douleur cutanee. Une composante neuropathique etait suggeree par DN4 chez un certain nombre de patients. Discussion La presence du prurit au cours du psoriasis a mis des annees avant d’etre admise par tous. Bien que ce soit moins frequent, la douleur cutanee peut ainsi survenir au cours du psoriasis. La principale limite de cette etude etait que le diagnostic de psoriasis etait auto-declare. A notre connaissance, il s’agit de la plus importante etude sur la douleur cutanee chez les patients atteints de psoriasis. Un tiers des patients atteints de psoriasis ont signale des douleurs cutanees ; il est a noter que la moitie d’entre eux ont signale des picotements et une grande majorite ont signale un prurit. Par consequent, le psoriasis induit de nombreuses sensations cutanees desagreables. La douleur est souvent associee a d’autres sensations desagreables. On peut supposer que la liberation dans la peau de neuropeptides mais aussi d’interleukine 33 peut etre impliquee dans la douleur cutanee au cours du psoriasis. Conclusion La pathophysiologie n’est toujours pas claire ; cependant, la prise en charge de la douleur cutanee est un besoin non satisfait ; tous les essais cliniques ulterieurs devraient prendre en compte la souffrance des patients.

Resume Objectif La fibromyalgie est une affection d’etiologie inconnue touchant plus de 2 % de la population generale. L’objectif de cette etude a ete de traduire en arabe et de valider le questionnaire London Fibromyalgia Epidemiology Study – Screening Questionnaire (LFES – SQ) qui a ete etabli et valide pour le depistage des sujets souffrant de fibromyalgie. Patients et methodes La traduction a ete obtenue par la methode de « traduction/contre-traduction » par trois traducteurs professionnels. Un pretest a ete effectue sur 15 sujets volontaires pour evaluer la clarte et la comprehension des items. Vingt-deux femmes et huit hommes, d’âge moyen 52 ans (extremes : 40 a 82 ans), dont 80 % sont illettres, ont repondu au questionnaire a deux reprises a dix jours d’intervalle. La reproductibilite a ete evaluee par le coefficient de correlation intraclasse. Resultats La comprehension du questionnaire a ete bonne. Aucun item n’a ete modifie ou elimine. Le coefficient de correlation intraclasse a ete de 0,91 pour le resultat global du questionnaire. Les coefficients de correlation intraclasse des items separes etaient compris entre 0,7 et 0,96, temoignant d’une reproductibilite satisfaisante. Conclusion La version en arabe du LFES – SQ est utile pour depister la fibromyalgie dans la population tunisienne. D’autres etudes seront necessaires pour verifier son applicabilite a d’autres populations arabes.

La bronchite aigue est definie par une inflammation aigue des bronches et des bronchioles chez un sujet sain. Il s’agit d’un diagnostic tres frequemment porte et qui entraine un grand nombre de prescriptions d’antibiotiques. Or, si les etiologies infectieuses sont multiples, l’origine virale parait tres largement predominante ; l’evolution spontanee est pratiquement toujours favorable. Enfin, il n’y a pas de demonstration claire de l’interet des antibiotiques. L’objectif de l’etude etait de mettre en evidence une guerison plus rapide par le recours a un complexe d’huiles essentielles (Gouttes aux essences®). Les resultats mettent en evidence une amelioration significative des J3 de la toux, de l’enrouement, des douleurs thoraciques et de la fatigue. Par ailleurs, le sommeil et l’expectoration s’ameliorent a J5 ; la dimension physique SF12, questionnaire de qualite de vie, s’ameliore de facon significative (p = 0,007). L’Agence francaise de securite sanitaire des produits de sante, dans son rapport du 24/01/03, et les experts s’accordent sur le fait qu’une guerison clinique spontanee est observee dans la majorite des cas en une dizaine de jours, l’amelioration significative des le 3e jour demontre l’efficience et la pertinence de la prise en charge des affections bronchiques aigues par le complexe d’huiles essentielles. Notre etude temoigne de l’efficience du complexe d’huiles essentielles, qui constitue une solution alternative de choix aux antibiotiques, ouvre une voie originale, qui semble repondre aux attentes du public et des autorites de sante en limitant le recours aux antibiotiques.

To investigate the prevalence and the factors related to the sensitive skin in China.A community-based study was undertaken in three major cities in China, Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, from November 2009 to January 2010. The participants in the study were screened by cluster sampling, and were investigated by interview at their own homes. A questionnaire, including skin sensitivity, the occurrence of burning, prickling or irritating sensations correlated with the factors, history of skin diseases and skin types, was given to each participant aged over 15 years.Totally 9154 questionnaires were completed (3931 men and 5223 women). The mean prevalence of very sensitive and sensitive skin in three cities was 13% (17.12% in Beijing, 9.10% in Shanghai and 22.39% in Guangzhou.) The mean prevalence was 8.62% in men and 15.93% in women, with significant difference between men and women in three selected cities (P0.001). The total prevalence of very sensitive and sensitive skin was 16.44% in25 years group, 14.14% in 25-49 years group and 9.73% in ≥50 years group. Moreover, 18.54% of participants claimed with dry skin, 16.70% with greasy skin and 8.04% with normal skin claimed to have the symptoms of sensitive skin.The prevalence of sensitive skin in the three cities of China is much lower than that in Europe and the United States. There was significant difference of the prevalence of sensitive skin among three cities located in different climatic and latitude regions and between men and women. The prevalence gradually decreased with the increasing age. The skin sensitivity was associated to the positive history of atopic dermatitis.

Among localizations of sensitive skin, scalp is one of the less known.We performed a study for a better understanding of sensitive scalp and proposed a new score: the 3S score.An opinion poll was conducted on 2117 persons, which were representative of the French population. The total score was obtained by multiplying score severity of abnormal sensations by the number of these sensations.About one-third of the population declared to suffer from a sensitive scalp. It was increasingly frequent with age. The 3S questionnaire allowed discrimination among subjects with slightly sensitive, sensitive and very sensitive scalps. Itching and prickling were the most frequent symptoms. Sensitive scalp was sometimes associated with some scalp diseases. Dandruff cannot be considered as a symptom of sensitive scalp.This study is only the third reported study about sensitive scalp. The 3S questionnaire is a convenient and effective tool for investigating the severity and symptomatology of the sensitive scalp.

Introduction Peu d’etudes en France ont evalue l’impact psychologique de l’hemangiome infantile (HI) sur les parents avant la mise a disposition du traitement par propranolol dans cette affection. Patients et methodes Nous avons interroge 40 familles ayant chacune un enfant atteint d’HI sur la prise en charge de l’hemangiome de leur enfant, sur l’impact de la maladie sur leur vie familiale et professionnelle ainsi que sur leur qualite de vie. Observations Soixante-cinq pour cent des familles ont du consulter deux (ou plus) professionnels de sante avant d’obtenir le diagnostic correct. Un impact psychologique est retrouve chez 97,5 % des familles : les principales difficultes psychologiques rencontrees etaient « le regard des autres » (51,3 %), « l’anxiete concernant la guerison » (69,23 %), « un sentiment de solitude » (5,1 %) et « le decouragement » (20,5 %). « Un sentiment de culpabilite » s’est ressenti chez 28,2 % des parents. Parmi les parents, 61,9 % ont rapporte un impact de l’hemangiome de leur enfant sur leur travail : 23,1 % des parents declarent prendre des conges maladies a repetition, 7,7 % ont du reamenager leur temps de travail et 30,8 % ont demande un conge parental. 16,7 % des parents ont rapporte recevoir l’aide reguliere de leurs famille et amis. Discussion Notre etude demontre clairement que l’HI est percu comme un handicap, au sens large du terme, par les familles des enfants atteints et souligne les aspects psychologiques potentiels sur lesquels se focaliser a l’avenir pour aider les familles d’enfants atteints. Conclusion Cette etude fournit un regard sans precedent sur le fardeau que represente l’HI en France. En particulier, le diagnostic correct de l’HI est tardif dans 65 % des cas, bien que celui-ci soit un soulagement pour 42,7 % des familles. L’HI a un impact psychologique dans 97,5 % des familles, avec un retentissement sur le travail chez 61,9 % des parents. La mise a disposition de la forme orale de propranolol a revolutionne la prise en charge medicale de l’HI, une etude est en cours pour decrire l’impact de ce traitement sur le fardeau des familles.

The hypothesis that insufficient body weight is partly responsible for idiopathic short stature was tested by evaluating 79 prepubertal children having idiopathic short stature, classified according to their body mass index (BMI) zs: group 1 BMI zsor = 0 (m +/- SE, -0.9 +/- 0.1, n = 53) and group 2 BMI zs0 (0.6 +/- 0.1, n = 26). Their ages were similar (8.1 +/- 0.3 and 8.4 +/- 0.4 years). The following parameters were significantly lower in group 1 than in group 2: height (-2.5 +/- 0.1 vs. -2.2 +/- 0.1 SD, p0.05), height velocity (-1.5 +/- 0.2 vs. -0.9 +/- 0.4 SD, p0.05), bone age (bone age retardation 2.3 +/- 0.2 vs. 1.3 +/- 0.4 years, p0.005) and plasma insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1, 0.8 +/- 0.1 vs. 1.2 +/- 0.1 U/ml, p0.05). The BMI was significantly lower in children with idiopathic short stature (-0.4 +/- 0.1) than in the normal population (zs, p0.0002). BMI zs was positively correlated with height (p0.005), height velocity (p0.05) and plasma IGF-1 (p0.01). We conclude that children with idiopathic short stature are leaner than the normal population. An inadequate or insufficient nutritional intake may be partly responsible for idiopathic short stature. The effects of improved intake on the height change are under evaluation.

Atopic dermatitis and psoriasis engender a significant deterioration in patients' quality of life. Although the efficacy of patient management at the Avène hydrotherapy centre has been demonstrated by clinical studies, few data relating to changes in the quality of life following therapeutic management are available. The objective of this study was to evaluate the short- and medium-term effects of hydrotherapy not only on the patients' quality of life, but also on the quality of life of the parents of the treated children.In this 6-month longitudinal observational study, adult (n = 174) and paediatric (n = 212) atopic patients and psoriatic patients (n = 262) had to complete questionnaires relating to the quality of life at the beginning (D0) and after 3 weeks hydrotherapy (W3), and then, 3 (M3) and 6 months (M6) later. The dermatology life quality index (DLQI) and the Short-Form-12 Health Survey (SF-12) generic questionnaire were given to adult patients. The children's dermatological life quality index (CDLQI) was given to paediatric patients, and the SF-12 to their parents.At D0, the DLQI score was 29.7 ± 20.1 and 26.9 ± 18.9 for atopic and psoriatic patients, respectively. At W3, this score had decreased significantly to reach 16.8 ± 14.9 (P0.01) and 10.0 ± 10.5 (P0.001) for atopic and psoriatic patients, respectively. The DLQI scores at M3 and M6 were 20.7 ± 16.4 and 23.1 ± 18.8 for atopic patients and 18.8 ± 16.7 and 21.9 ± 19.6 for psoriatic patients and remained significantly lower in comparison with D0 values (P0.05).A 3-week course of treatment at the Avène hydrotherapy centre significantly improved the quality of life of patients suffering from skin diseases. This improvement persisted 3 and 6 months after management by hydrotherapy.

The chronic and treatment-resistant nature of nail psoriasis affects patients' lives not only physically but also psychologically. Although there are scoring systems available for disease severity, there is as yet no scale to evaluate the impact of this condition upon the patients' quality of life.This study aims to develop and validate a quality of life scale specifically for nail psoriasis.A questionnaire was developed during a study conducted in France between 2004 and 2005. With the cooperation of l'Association Pour la Lutte Contre le Psoriasis, the questionnaire was sent to a random sample of 4000 of its 17,000 members.The response rate was 33%. Of the 1309 questionnaires returned, 795 showed the presence of nail psoriasis and these were eligible. The scale score is obtained by adding together the responses to the 10 questionnaire items and the result is expressed as a percentage. The value of the score obtained is proportional to the functional difficulty experienced. The determination of Cronbach's a coefficient and a Principal Component Factor Analysis show, respectively, very good internal consistency and the unidimensional nature of the scale. Test-retest results on 15 patients showed good reproducibility. Results were validated with reference to the Dermatology Life Quality Index. In this study, the NPQ10 score is significantly influenced by gender (women have a higher score) and by the duration of psoriasis (recent onset implies greater functional difficulty). Finally, the score is much higher when the nail psoriasis affects both the hands and the feet.This study confirms a change in the quality of life of patients who have nail psoriasis. The NPQ10 scale, specific to this condition, is simple to use and has the attributes needed in a quality of life scale. The scale must now be tested in longitudinal studies (such as clinical trials) to confirm its ability to measure a change in status.