Prevalence of skin conditions and head lice in children.
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Prevalence of skin conditions and head lice in children of families attending paediatric out patient appointments.
IRAS ID
209241
Contact name
Tess McPherson
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Research and Development department
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 0 months, 29 days
Research summary
Research Summary
There is very limited data on prevalence or aetiology of a variety of common skin conditions in childhood. In particular there is no good data on community prevalence of head lice. There are anecdotal reports that older children are now getting head lice more frequently and this may be related to ‘selfies’ or smart phone use but to date there is no evidence to support this. Additionally children and parents/ guardians are unlikely to present to their doctor with head lice infestation and may not share information with school of friends.
Although the study aims to identify a link between social media device use and headlice confounding factors such as numbers in a family household and length of hair are appreciated as confounding factors. The study will be conducted through the use of anonymous questionnaires given to families attending paediatric outpatient clinics over a period of four weeks. Information on ages of children who have had head lice and whether social media use relates to this may enable better public health campaigns and control measures.Summary of Results
Our study found that there is high use of devices across this age group and a higher prevalence of head lice than previously reported. Smartphone usage correlated positively with the presence of head lice to statistical significance. The reason for this is likely to be increased head-to-head contact between children with these devices and the modern phenomenon of taking “selfies”. A small sample size, incomplete answering of questionnaires and the possibility of confounding factors are recognised limitations of the study. Although it is still felt with the high prevalence and statistical significance found in this study that more should be done to raise awareness in children and parents of this modern phenomena.Learning points
* Head Lice prevalence may be increasing especially among older aged children
* Use of Smartphone/ tablet devices increases risk of head lice to statistical significance.
This could be due to increased head-to-head contact between these children at an age when transmission was previously low
This highlights the need for awareness among parents/ guardians of this phenomenon to limit future out breaks.REC name
East of England - Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/EE/0275
Date of REC Opinion
29 Jun 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion