Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)
1578-2190
abstract
Background and objective: Epidermolysis bullosa (EB) is a heterogeneous group of inherited disorders characterized by a high degree of mucocutaneous fragility. This study aimed to describe the clinical and epidemiologic characteristics of patients with EB treated in Hospital Universitario La Paz, a national referral center for inherited EB. Material and methods: Observational, retrospective, single-center study. We included all cases with a clinical and molecular diagnosis of EB managed in the hospital"s dermatology department from January 2, 2000, to February 28, 2021. Results: A total of 214 cases were studied. The median (interquartile range) age was 17 (8---32) years; 54.2% were women. One hundred thirty-five (63.1%) patients had dystrophic EB, 67 (31.3%) had EB simplex, 8 (3.7%) had junctional EB, and 3 (1.4%) had Kindler syndrome. One (0.5%) had EB acquisita. Over a third (35.5%) of the patients resided in Madrid. The most common clinical complications were pruritus (63.1%), local infections (56.5%), and pain (54.7%). The most serious ones were cardiomyopathy (in 5.6%) and squamous cell carcinoma (10.3%). Twenty-two patients (10.3%) died.