ReportPhotodermatoses in African Americans: A retrospective analysis of 135 patients over a 7-year period
Section snippets
Patient population
An institutional review board–approved, retrospective chart review was performed. All patients were seen by a dermatologist at the Department of Dermatology, Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, Michigan. A total of 2200 patients' charts from August 1997 to September 2004 with International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) diagnostic codes related to photodermatoses were reviewed. If the patient was diagnosed with a photosensitivity disorder (Table I), they were included in the
Results
A total of 278 patients were found to have a photodermatosis; two patients (both Caucasians) had two diagnoses, one with PMLE and photocontact dermatitis to Eusolex, and the other had PMLE and photocontact dermatitis to chlorpromazine hydrochloride and promethazine.
A total of 245 African American and Caucasian patients were found to have photodermatoses. In African Americans and Caucasians, the distribution of diagnoses was as follows: PMLE (67.4% and 41.1%, respectively), drug-induced
Discussion
To our knowledge, this is the first study that systematically evaluated the frequency of photodermatoses in African American patients. Despite the overall darker complexion, photodermatoses occurred regularly in these patients, suggesting that dark constitutional skin color does not protect against the development of photodermatoses. This is further supported by comparing our data with the demographics of patients seen in the Department of Dermatology at Henry Ford Hospital, where the study was
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Funding sources: None.
Conflicts of interest: None declared.
This study has been presented at the annual meeting of the Skin of Color Society, New Orleans, in February 2005, as well as at the Michigan Dermatology Society meeting, Detroit, in October 2005.