oa Central African Journal of Medicine - Connective tissue disease in Nigeria with emphasis on scleroderma

Abstract

The apparent rarity of systemic connective tissue diseases as shown in the present retrospective four-year study (1972-1976) among patients attending the University Teaching Hospital, Lagos, Nigeria, is presented. Of the 30 collagenoses patients seen, there were 12 with scleroderma, 10 with lupus erythematosus and 8 with the miscellaneous type. In particular, it was observed that localised scleroderma (morphoea) was more common among this study population during this period. The diagnostic similarity of certain tropical dermatoses to this collagenoses in clinical hospital practice forms the highlight of this report.