Abstract: Objective To study the causes of erythroderma, the prognosis of patients and the influencing factors. Methods Clinical data from 128 cases of erythroderma were retrospectively analyzed. Results The male-female ratio was 2.9:1. The mean age of onset was 52.4 years old. The most frequent cause of erythroderma was the exacerbation of a preexisting dermatosis (71.1%),among them patients with psoriasis accounted for 48.4%; followed by drug reactions(12.5%); malignancies and unknown origin accounted for 5.5%and 10.9%, respectively. The inappropriate treatments(34.4%) were the main factor in inducing and aggravating erythroderma. Follow up data were obtained from 85 patients (66.4%). In seven of the patients who died, four cases were related to erythroderma, three died of malignancies. Conclusion Erythroderma of unknown origin is mostly related to insidious malignancies and drug reactions. The prognosis of the disease depends on the causes and complications of erythroderma and therapeutic regimens. Erythroderma caused by psoriasis is prone to recur while the prognosis of drug reaction related erythroderma is excellent.

Key words: Erythroderma, Prognosis