Prevalence of Scabies and its Related Risk Factors in Duhok City, Iraq

Background: This study aimed to determine the prevalence rate of scabies infestation and its associated risk factors in Duhok City, Iraq. A cross-sectional study was conducted involving 628 patients (317 females and 311 males) with skin lesions who attended the Department of Dermatology at Azadi Teaching Hospital from October 2023 to January 2024.The diagnosis of scabies identified by dermatologists, depends on the presence of skin lesions, itching, and the region of lesions throughout the body. Each patient's entire body was evaluated.The current study reported a high rate of scabies (60.7%) which was higher in females than males across all age groups (≤ one year to ≥ 50 years), and it decreased with the increase of age. The infestation rate was particularly high in October, November, December of 2023, and January of 2024. Several factors associated with the prevalence of scabies including patients' residence (urban or rural) (65.6%, and 34.4%); the duration of itching; the majority of patients experienced itching ≤ 1 month, followed by 1-4 and >4 months (62.7%, 27.3%, and 10.0%) respectively, and the time of itching as follow: at night, during the day, and both at night and during the day (68.2%,23.4% and 8.4%), had contact with animals or not (65.6%, 64.4%). Furthermore, the study indicated that the prevalence rate based on the skin lesion's location through the patient's body as follows: whole body, abdomen, legs, chest, hand, and face (36.0%, 22.7%, 16.9%, 13.0%, 10.1%, and 1.3%) respectively. It is included, that there was a high rate of infestation of scabies in Duhok City, and to eliminate this high rate, it is recommended to improve the methods of prevention and security and supply effective treatment.