Dermatological manifestations in COVID-19: Awareness based survey in Chennai population

Abstract

Background: COVID-19, an ongoing global pandemic affecting people all over the world, is associated with viruses that cause severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). Initially there were no skin related disorders during COVID-19, but recently some cases have been reported.Extrapulmonary manifestations, dermatological signs and associated cutaneous manifestations related to COVID-19 slowly started to show up. The aim of this study is to assess the knowledge and awareness of dermatological manifestations in COVID-19 among the general population in Chennai.

Method: Cross-sectional study involving one online survey was conducted among the general population in Chennai. 101 responses were collected to 13 survey questions. Then the data was entered and analysed using the statistical package for social sciences software(SPSS) version 23.

Results: From the survey conducted among the general population in Chennai it was found that out of 101 participants 93.4% of them are aware of COVID-19 and 6.6% of them are not aware of COVID-19. And 21% of the study population is aware of the skin related complications associated with COVID-19, 21.9% is not aware and the rest 57.1% of them are not sure regarding that.  The statistical significance was set at 0.05. Pearson chi square test showed p value as 0.127 ( p value > 0.05).

Conclusion: This study highlights the extent of awareness regarding skin manifestations in COVID-19 is high among the general population in Chennai.