PREVALENCE AND TYPES OF CUTANEOUS MANIFESTATION OF COVID-19 DISEASE IN 161 PATIENTS AT A COVID-19 TREATMENT CENTER

Abstract

Abstract Background: COVID-19 is associated with diverse manifestations including dermatological disease. Reports of cutaneous manifestations from Africa are few despite observances of these cutaneous manifestations during treatment of COVID-19 patients. The aim of this study is to document the prevalence and pattern of cutaneous manifestation of COVID-19 disease, Methodology: This was a prospective cross-sectional study of 161 adult in-patients with PCR confirmed COVID-19 disease at a treatment centre for moderate and severe COVID-19 disease. Sociodemographic (age, gender, duration of COVID symptoms) and clinical data (severity of COVID-19, cutaneous manifestation) were documented using a questionnaire. All the patients were clinically evaluated for new onset skin disease. Data was analysed using SPSS 22.0. Simple statistics such as means and frequencies are presented. Results: The group was made up of 54.7% males and 45.3 % females with a mean age of 54.4 ± 14.4 years. Seven patients had cutaneous manifestation of COVID-19 disease giving a prevalence of 4.2%. These cutaneous manifestations were urticaria, morbiliform rash, purpura blister and scaly patches. In 2 patients, the cutaneous manifestation started at the same time with the COVID-19 symptoms while in 5 patients, it started after the symptoms. The severity of COVID-19 disease was severe in 5 of these patients. Only one patient reported itching with COVID-19 disease. Conclusion: The novel COVID-19 virus does have cutaneous manifestations but these are uncommon and dependent on the severity of the COVID-19 disease. Keywords: COVID-19, cutaneous manifestation, sub-saharan Africa, prevalence.