Epidemiological Factors in Patients with Dermatologic Conditions Referring to the Clinic of Traditional Persian Medicine: A Cross-sectional Study.

Parvizi, Mohammad Mahdi; Fatehi, Nazanin; Jaladat, Amir Mohammad; Gholampour, Zahra; Shahriarirad, Reza; Erfani, Amirhossein

INTRODUCTION Many patients with chronic diseases often use the traditional medicine, as well as conventional medicine. The aim of this study was to evaluate the epidemiological factors of patients with dermatological conditions referring to traditional Persian Medicine (TPM) clinic. MATERIALS AND METHODS In this cross-sectional study, we reviewed all the patients' medical documents, from March 2018 to March 2019, with dermatological conditions referred to the TPM clinic at Shiraz, Southern Iran. Then, the epidemiological factors of the patients were recorded to a researcher-made data collection form. SPSS software version 22 was used to analyze the data. RESULTS Overall, 631 patients consisting of 151 (23.9%) males and 580 (76.1%) females were enrolled in the study. Most of the patients were aged between 31 and 40 years, 347 (55%) patients were married, and most of them were housewives. The frequency of patients in the spring was higher than other seasons. Furthermore, most of the patients were university educated. Acne, eczema and hair loss were the three most complaints of the patients who referred to the traditional medicine clinic. 301(47.7%) patients reported gastrointestinal problems as another complaint concomitant with their skin problems. CONCLUSION It seems that women with skin problems, including acne, eczema, and hair loss, were more likely to refer to the TPM clinic. Therefore, development of TPM clinics in dermatology field as a scientific and academic approach can be effective in the treatment of patients with dermatological condition accompanied by traditional medicine.