Abstract:

Objective To study the correlation between the etiology and clinical features of erythroderma. Methods The clinical data on 182 patients with erythroderma were retrospectively collected and analyzed. Results The male-to-female ratio was 2.8 ∶ 1 and the average age at onset was 58.6 ± 14.6 years. Of the 182 cases, 135 （74.2%） were due to pre-existing dermatoses, 14 （7.7%） to drug reaction, 8 （4.4%） to malignancies, while 25 （13.7%） had no obvious precipitating factors. The most frequent triggering factor was systemic consumption of drugs （52 patients, 28.6%）, and glucocorticosteroid was the most prevalent causative drug. Seventy-six patients were followed up, recurrence was observed in 14 patients but not in 58 patients, and 5 patients died, 2 patients with idiopathic erythroderma were finally diagnosed with mycosis fungoides （MF） after multiple skin biopsies. Conclusions Pre-existing dermatoses are the most frequent cause of erythroderma. Idiopathic erythroderma is liable to relapse, possibly associated with malignancies, and should be closely followed up.

Key words: Prognosis