Study Of Skin Changes In Pregnant Women In The Second And Third Trimester,Coming To A Tertiary Care Hospital In Belagavi-A One Year Cross Sectional Study

Abstract

Pregnancy is associated with multiple skin changes, most of which are physiological in nature. Pregnancy however is also associated with certain pruritic eruptions and specific dermatoses of pregnancy which not only cause distress to the pregnant female, but may influence the fetal outcome as well. Methods A total of 104 randomly presenting pregnant women in their second and third trimester coming with skin changes in the outpatient and inpatient care in at KLE’s Dr Prabhakar Kore Hospital and MRC, Belagavi, during the period January 2016 to December 2016 were included. Ethical clearance was obtained from the Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College Institutional Ethics Committee of Human Subjects Research. Each pregnant woman underwent complete general, systemic and dermatological examinations and the findings were recorded in the proforma. Bedside laboratory investigations like Tzanck smear, KOH mount and Wood’s lamp examination were done only if essential to confirm the diagnosis. The statistical analysis was performed by STAT 11.2 (college station TX USA) and IBM SPSS software. Results A total of 104 pregnant women were enrolled in the study. 88(85%) pregnant women were below the age of thirty and 16(15%) were thirty years and above. 55(53%) were primigravidae and 49(47%) were multigravidae. 62(60%) women were in their second trimester and 42(40%) women were in their third trimester. Itchy lesions were the most common complaint 45(43%). 94(90%) women had physiological skin changes of pregnancy and 28(27%) women had specific dermatoses of pregnancy. Linea nigra 59(57%) was the most common physiological skin change. Pruritic urticarial papules and plaques of pregnancy 9(9%) and prurigo of pregnancy 9(9%) were the two most common specific dermatoses of pregnancy. Conclusion This study brings into focus various skin changes during the second and third trimester of pregnancy.