[Etiology of intertrigo in adults: A prospective study of 103 cases].

INTRODUCTION: The etiologies of intertrigo in adults are numerous and different. The objective of our work was to study the epidemiological, clinical and the risk factors of intertrigo in adults.

METHODS: We conducted a prospective study for a period of seven months in two Dermatology Units in Dakar (Senegal). All adults patient with intertrigo seen during this period who gave consent were included.

RESULTS: One hundred and three patients with intertrigo were diagnosed with a hospital prevalence of 2.54%. The sex -ratio was 0.63 and the average age was 41. The study of habits and lifestyles of the patients found a history of intensive skin lightening, sport, wearing synthetic clothes and smoking in 26, 22, 20 and 22 cases, respectively. Infectious complications mainly bacterial (3.88%) and viral (1.94%) were reported in nine cases (8.7%). A dry erythroderma was noted in 3 cases (2.9%). It was found that the intertigo was commonly caused by fungal infections with a prevalence of 48.5% followed by immuno-allergic reactions with a prevalence of 34.9%, suppurative hidradenitis and inverse psoriasis with the same prevalence of 2.9%. Fifty-eight percent of cases with tinea and 63% of cases with candidiasis were women. Thirty-five percent of tinea cases and 45% of candidiasis cases were found to have a history of intensive skin lightening.

CONCLUSION: The cause of intertrigo in adults are mainly infectious, particularly fungi, infections and immuno-allergic diseases. There are predisposing factors and some professions are more at risk.