Mario Mastrolonardo, Annalisa Diaferio, Gianluigi Vendemiale, Pierluigi Lopalco
DOI: 10.1080/00015550410025877

Theconstant increase of life expectancy in countries with high standardsof living raises growing concern about many aspects of skin morbidityin the elderly. As regards seborrhoeic dermatitis, literature yieldsprevalence estimates for elderly people that are consistently higherthan those reported from the general population. This promptsspeculations on whether factors inherently involved in senescence mighthave some role in the course of seborrhoeic dermatitis. In a series of 186 subjects, aged ≥65, strength of association of the skin disorderwith age, sex, coexisting non-cutaneous conditions, and degree of lossof self-sufficiency in activities of daily living (ADL index) wasevaluated by univariate and multivariate analysis. We found that age(OR: 1.14; p<0.001) and, more importantly, dependency in more than one ADL (OR: 30.2; p<0.0001) were independent explanatory variables of seborrhoeic dermatitis. These findings suggest that senescence per se might have some significance in the natural history of this type of eczema.