Skin disease is highly prevalent among hospitalized patients, according to a recent study that sought to assess the national burden of inpatient dermatology in adults. Using the 2014 National Inpatient Sample, researchers performed a retrospective cohort study of adults hospitalized for dermatologic conditions. They found:

• In 2014, there were 644,320 weighted hospitalizations principally for skin disease in adults, which cost the health care system $5.04 billion.
• Overall, skin disease was diagnosed in 1 in 8 hospitalized adults.
• Dermatologic hospitalizations were associated with a lack of medical insurance, residence in a low-income community, and small or rural hospitals.
• Racial minorities were less likely to be hospitalized for skin disease than were whites (for blacks: OR, 0.77; for Hispanics: OR, 0.85; for Asians: OR, 0.59).
• Only 0.47% of patients admitted for skin disease experienced in-hospital mortality; however, mortality rates were high in hospitalizations for cutaneous lymphomas (9.19%) and malignant melanoma (6.54%).