KUMJ | VOL. 15 | NO. 2 | ISSUE 58 | APRIL-JUNE 2017

Clinico-etiological Profile of Melasma among Female Health Workers in a Tertiary Care Center of Central Nepal - A Cross Sectional Study
Karn D, Subedi A, KC S

Abstract:
Background Melasma is an acquired symmetrical dyschromia with profound psychosocial impacts. It is a common pigmentary disorder with less clear etiology and limited management options. There are limited data regarding melasma in our scenario. Objective To evaluate the clinico-etiological profile of melasma, among the female health workers (FHW) in a tertiary health center. Method This is a single center, cross-sectional, descriptive study involving female health workers with or without melasma. A total of 198 female health workers were evaluated at Dhulikhel hospital Kathmandu university hospital for clinic-etiological profile of melasma in January 2017. Video-dermatoscopy was used for the clinical diagnosis of melasma. A structured, self-administered questionnaire was used for assessment. Risk factor assessment of etiological agents as sun exposure, hormonal medication, photo aggravating drugs, stressors as night duty were evaluated. Result The point prevalence of melasma among female health workers 20.7% (n=41). The mean age of respondents was 26.2 ± 3.23 years with duration of disease process 3.6 ± 2.5 years. Centro-facial pattern was the commonest clinical type (53.7%) and video-dermatoscopy revealed mixed pattern as the commonest (56.1%) pigment deposition pattern. Among 132 female health workers doing night duty on regular basis, 23 had melasma while 66 female health workers not doing night duty, 18 had melasma (p = 0.10). Whereas while comparing hours of night duty per week among respondents with melasma (n=23) and without melasma (n=18) were 23.72±10.08 hours and 17.8±4.77 hours respectively (p=0.02). Conclusion The present study reveals higher prevalence of melasma among female health workers having more stressors as night duty.
Keyword : Female, health worker, melasma