Estimating the Prevalence of Atopic Dermatitis in School Students of Jejudo, Korea

Objectives :The frequency of visiting clinics in Jejudo for treating atopic dermatitis (AD) has been reported to be higher than that for other counties of Korea.The aim of this work was to estimate the prevalence of AD for the students of the primary, middle and high schools in Jejudo, Korea.Methods : We planned to evaluate about 5,000 students, so classes were randomly selected by random systematic sampling methods.The parents of all the students in the selected classes were asked to respond to a structured questionnaire concerned with the prevalence of AD.Results : The prevalence of AD based on ever being diagnosed by a doctor, on currently being diagnosed by a doctor, on ever being treated for AD by a doctor, on currently being treated for AD by a doctor was 25.57% (95% CI=25.3-25.8),14.67% (95% CI=14.5-14.9),21.90% (95% CI=21.6-22.2) and 14.41% (95% CI=14.2-14.6),respectively.Conclusions : On comparing the prevalence of AD, the students in Jejudo had a higher number of recurrence events in spite of their lower number of cases.Further studies are needed to evaluate these aspects of AD.