The effect of the "stay-at-home" policy on requests for dermatology outpatient clinic visits after the COVID-19 outbreak.
The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) emerged late in Turkey but it showed a rapid progression later. We aimed to investigate the changes in the number of patients who requested a dermatology outpatient clinic visit due to the increased social and medical burden caused by COVID-19 in Turkey during the first days of the pandemic. We also examined the most common dermatologic diseases diagnosed during the COVID-19 outbreak. A statistically significant negative correlation was found between the number of COVID-19 patients in the country and the number of patients requesting a dermatology outpatient clinic visit in the secondary and tertiary care hospitals during self-quarantine. In the first 10 days after the COVID-19 outbreak, acne (28.2%), urticaria (12.8%), scabies (12.8%), irritant contact dermatitis (10.3%), and xerosis cutis (10.2%) were the most common diseases seen in the dermatology clinic at the secondary care hospital, while acne (23.3%), warts (5.4%), seborrheic dermatitis (4.5%), urticaria (3.8%), and psoriasis (3.32%) were the most common diseases seen in the dermatology clinic at the tertiary care hospital. This is our first study on the frequency and nature of outpatient dermatology visits during this novel coronavirus pandemic. Understanding the trends and impacts of dermatologic diseases on patients and health systems during this pandemic will allow for better preparation of dermatologists in the future.
['Kutlu|Ömer|Ö|https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9665-015X', 'Güneş|Rıdvan|R|', 'Coerdt|Kathleen|K|', 'Metin|Ahmet|A|https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6512-4990', 'Khachemoune|Amor|A|https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1622-1097']
D000328:Adult D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities D000073640:Betacoronavirus D000086382:COVID-19 D015897:Comorbidity D018352:Coronavirus Infections D018562:Disease Transmission, Infectious D005260:Female D005500:Follow-Up Studies D006801:Humans D008297:Male D010045:Outpatients D058873:Pandemics D011024:Pneumonia, Viral D012189:Retrospective Studies D000086402:SARS-CoV-2 D012871:Skin Diseases D014421:Turkey
dermatology outpatient COVID-19 pandemic