Pruritus as reason for encounter in general practice

Abstract

Background: Pruritus is a common reason for consulting the general practitioner. Data from a primary care setting have seldom been published. The goal of the recent investigation was to characterize the consultation prevalence of pruritus, frequency of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, accompanying symptoms and results of encounter or diagnoses of patients with pruritus.

Methods: Cross-sectional data were collected from randomly selected patients during the SESAM 2 study and compared with unpublished but publicly available data from the Dutch Transition Project and the published Australian BEACH study data.

Results: Overall 64 of the 8,877 patients from the SESAM 2 study consulted a physician for pruritus. The male to female ratio was 1.0 : 1.3. Pruritus was more frequent in children and people aged over 75 years. Physical examination was performed in all patients. Further diagnostic measures were seldom necessary. Drugs were prescribed in 84% of the cases. Allergic contact eczema and infectious diseases of the skin were the most frequent results of encounter or diagnoses. Medical adverse effects and allergic reactions should be considered as causes of pruritus. We found no significant association to systemic diseases.

Conclusions: In a primary care setting, pruritus occurs regularly. It is associated to (infectious) skin diseases. Acute dangerous courses are rare.

Keywords: Pruritus; Itch; General practice; Primary care; Reason for encounter.