Temporal trends in scabies-related emergency department visits: a retrospective trend analysis of 10,994 visits.

BACKGROUND

Scabies is a contagious skin infestation caused by Sarcoptes scabiei and affects over 200 million people worldwide. Changes in behaviour and living conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic may have influenced its transmission dynamics. This study aimed to evaluate temporal trends and epidemiological characteristics of scabies-related emergency department (ED) visits.

METHODS

In this single-centre retrospective ED-based trend analysis, 10,994 scabies-related emergency department visits recorded with a principal diagnosis of scabies between January 2022 and October 2023 were analyzed. Descriptive statistics and negative binomial regression were used to assess temporal trends and associated factors.

RESULTS

Of all visits, 10,434 (94.9%) were initial and 560 (5.1%) were early repeat visits. The mean age was 22.3 ± 18.1 years, and 57.2% of visits occurred in males. Monthly visit counts fluctuated over time, ranging from 236 in January 2022 to a peak of 737 in December 2022. Negative binomial regression indicated a significant average monthly increase in ED visit counts (IRR = 1.04, 95% CI: 1.03-1.07, p < 0.001), and provided a substantially better fit than Poisson regression (ΔAIC > 500). However, in the denominator-adjusted sensitivity analysis using monthly green-zone ED visits as an offset, the temporal increase was attenuated and was not statistically significant (IRR = 1.01, 95% CI: 0.99-1.03, p = 0.268).

CONCLUSION

Scabies-related ED visits increased during the observation period; however, these findings should be interpreted as increased ED visit burden rather than direct evidence of population-level incidence. Strengthened surveillance, early recognition, contact management, and adherence-focused interventions may help reduce scabies-related healthcare burden.