Materials and Method: Descriptive statistics were computed for means, standard deviations, and frequencies. The chi-square test or FisherÂ’s exact test was used for statistical analysis, with a significance threshold of p<0.05.
Results: Totally, 631 consecutive patients [307 males and 324 females; mean age, 73.34±6.49 years (range, 65–95 years)] were enrolled. In 292 patients, at least one laboratory test was performed to identify the etiology of chronic pruritus. In 42 patients, abnormal laboratory test results led to the diagnosis of a pruritus-related systemic disease. This study revealed that 21 patients had iron deficiency anemia, 2 had solid malignancies, 7 had hypothyroidism, 8 had renal disease, and 5 had hepatobiliary diseases. There was a statistically significant relationship between performing laboratory tests for chronic pruritus and detecting a pruritus-related systemic disease (p<0.001).
Conclusion: Chronic pruritus in the elderly poses a diagnostic challenge. Our study showed that chronic pruritus may be a manifestation of an underlying systemic disease. Therefore, we suggest that multiple etiologies should be considered based on relevant clinical and investigational data.
Keywords : Pruritus; Aged; Laboratories