Abstract

Background: Pregnancy-related specific dermatoses are skin conditions that develop during pregnancy and go away after delivery. Itching and only secondary skin lesions in the form of excoriations, with or without signs of cholestasis, are the main symptoms of the skin illness known as pruritus gravidarum in gravid women.So, the present study was conducted with an aim to evaluate the prevalence and characteristics of pruritus among pregnant women.
Methods: The present prospective cross-sectional study was conducted among pregnant women in the outpatient (OPD) of the department of Obstetrics and Gynecology for 12 months. Complete dermatological examination was done in all cases to study the physiological and pathological changes of skin. Appropriate investigations were done if required to confirm the diagnosis. A preformed questionnaire was used for data collection to document baseline characteristics pruritis type and pruritis characteristics. The collected data was entered in the Microsoft (MS) Excel Spreadsheet and also, analysis of data carried out using MS Excel Spreadsheet. A p value of <0.05 was considered as statistically significant.
Results: In present 256 pregnant subjects were enrolled. The mean age of study subjects was 27.9±5.6 years.The prevalence of pruritis among enrolled subjects was 18.3%. The most common pruritis type was pruritis gravidarum (12.5%) and least common was pruritic folliculitis (0.8%).No pruritis was observed in the first and second trimester mothers and mothers with 3 or more gravida.In our study, among the subject with pruritis, more than four fifth of the them were having pruritis in the abdomen (89.4%) and chest region (83.0%). Chi-square analysis showed significant association between variables (period of gestation and trimester) with the pruritis (p<0.05).
Conclusion: During pregnancy, pruritus is frequent. While it can be the outcome of physiologic changes associated with pregnancy or diseases peculiar to pregnancy, it might also be an indication of an underlying, unrelated illness process.