A Prospective Observational Study to Evaluate the Prevalence and Clinical Correlation of Skin Lesions in Patients with Diabetes Mellitus

Abstract

Background: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disorder corresponding to a relative-to-complete insulin deficiency.  Materials and Methods: Evaluation of a total of 423 patients with confirmed diagnosis of diabetes mellitus reporting to OPD section of the hospital. The patients were evaluated for the presence of any skin lesion over a period of 12 months. The confirmation of diabetes was done using blood tests. Detail evaluation of demographic profile and clinical manifestations were carried out. A Performa was made and details of clinical examination were recorded separately. Prevalence of any type of cutaneous lesions was recorded. Results: The overall prevalence of skin lesions was 23.64 percent. 30 patients had type 1 DM and 70 patients had type 2 DM. Pruritis (n=30) and cutaneous infections (n=22) were most common cutaneous manifestations in patients with DM. Achordons were also common in diabetic patients. It was observed that fungal infections comprised of 68.18 % of cutaneous infections, bacterial infections comprised of 22.72 %. Viral infections were least common (9.1%). Conclusion:  Within the limitations of the present study, it can be concluded that cutaneous infections and pruritis are significantly prevalent conditions in diabetic patients.