Prevalence and risk factors of actinic keratosis in patients attending Italian dermatology clinics

Background: Actinic keratosis (AK) is a common keratinocyte intraepidermal neoplasia. Objective: To assess AK prevalence and potential risk factors in patients attending Italian general dermatology clinics. Materials & methods: This retrospective study was conducted on clinical data from consecutive white outpatients aged ≥30 years, attending 24 general dermatology clinics between December 2014 and February 2015. AK prevalence (entire population) and multivariate risk factor analysis (patients with current/previous AK and complete data) are presented. Results: AK prevalence in 7,284 patients was 27.4% (95% CI: 26.4-28.4%); 34.3% in men and 20.0% in women (p<0.001). Independent AK ris…