Social Isolation: Main Dermatoses and the Impact of Stress During the COVID-19 Pandemic
January 2022
in “
Einstein (São Paulo)
”
TLDR The pandemic increased stress-related skin conditions and those affected by behavior changes.
The study analyzed the pattern of triggering and exacerbation of dermatological diseases between March and July 2020, compared to the same period in 2019. It involved a retrospective analysis of medical records from a private dermatology practice in São Paulo, evaluating 992 consultations in 2019 and 1,176 in 2020. The study found a significant increase in cases of several dermatological conditions in 2020, including telogen effluvium (276%), psoriasis (1,400%), atopic dermatitis (178%), seborrheic dermatitis (200%), herpes zoster (1,200%), and vitiligo (433%). All these diseases had stress as a possible initial trigger. Additionally, fragile nail syndrome and contact dermatitis, pathologies associated with behavioral measures, also saw a significant increase in prevalence (6,400% and 5,500%, respectively). However, the number of aesthetic procedures decreased by approximately 54% during the pandemic period. The study concluded that the pattern of incidence of dermatoses had changed during the pandemic, with an emphasis on diseases triggered by a psychological component and those pathologies that have behavioral measures as the main cause.
