INTRODUCTION: An outbreak of Corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-coV-2) occurred in Wuhan city, Hubei province, China in December 2019. Although pulmonary health has been the main focus of studies, recent studies show that cutaneous symptoms appear in COVID-19 patients, with differing levels of severity even in those patients who were once thought to be asymptomatic to the infection. Recent studies show association of skin manifestations of COVID-19 with severity of COVID-19 infection, which These days, ongoing interest of clinical trials. Although not much is known concerning the pathophysiologic mechanisms of these cutaneous manifestations, their identification may be vital to early diagnosis and lead to possible better prognosis in COVID-19 patients.
OBJECTIVE: To examine cutaneous manifestations of Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19).
PLACE OF STUDY: Department of Dermatology Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan.
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: The longitudinal study will be conducted on patients with COVID-19 at JPMC Karachi. Permission from the ethical review committee will be taken prior to conduction of study and demographic data and informed consent will be taken from every patient or their guardians. forr data collection non-probability convenience sampling method will be used. Sample size of study would be 1206 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for SARS-CoV-2 RNA positive patients. Detailed history and examination of patients including cutaneous examination be conducted in COVID-19 patients by dermatologists. The data would include gender, age at the time of onset of COVID-19, presence/ absence of comorbidities, the presence/absence of cutaneous manifestation, cutaneous patterns, the duration of skin manifestations, presence or absence of systemic symptoms, skin-related symptoms, type of systemic symptoms, the duration of systemic symptoms, the time of onset of skin manifestation, the latency between the systemic symptoms and cutaneous manifestations, and the COVID-19 severity ( mild/asymptomatic (gastrointestinal symptoms, cough or fever) moderate (dyspnea or pneumonia on x-ray) or severe (death, thromboembolic event or ventilator). The lab-confirmed COVID-19 patients 20 years of age or older irrespect of symptoms were included. Patients with pre-existing dermatological disease, autoimmune disease, malignancy or chemotherapy, pregnant or lactating women, blood transfusion, on immunosuppressant, malabsorption syndrome or taking any drug/vaccine within 14 days before onset of skin lesions will be excluded. Photographs of skin lesions will be taken by consent.
DATA ANALYSIS: SPSS version 23 registered for Microsoft windows will be used for analysis. Mean and standard deviation will be calculated for expression of quantitative variables like age and disease duration of skin. Systemic symptoms duration, the latency between the systemic and cutaneous manifestations, and age for disease outcome will be calculated by median and interquartile range. Gender, co-morbidities, presence or absence of cutaneous/ systemic manifestations, cutaneous symptoms, skin patterns, time of onset of rash, and disease outcome covid-19 will be calculated by frequencies and percentages. Effect modifiers like age, gender, weight, co-morbidities, duration of symptoms will be controlled through stratification. Poststratification will be recalculated and chi-square test will be applied. P-value of \<0.05% will be considered as significant.
