The Impacts of Gianotti-Crosti Syndrome (Papular Acrodermatitis of Childhood) on the Quality of Life of Children

Background: Gianotti-Crosti syndrome (GCS) is a self-remitting eruption related to viral infections. Ribavirin has been reported to be effective in treating severe GCS. Before clinical trials on antiviral agents, the magnitude of GCS affecting the quality of life in children should be ascertained.

Aim: To investigate the impact of GCS on the QOL of children.

Methods: Our setting was a teaching clinic. We validly translated the Children Dermatology Life Quality Index into Chinese. We recruited all children aged five to 16 years diagnosed with GCS over two years. For each child with GCS, we recruited the next age-and-sex pair-matched child consulting us for atopic dermatitis (AD), and the next age-and-sex pair-matched child brought to consult us for problems unrelated to the skin as controls. All study and control subjects completed the CDLQI.

Results: 23 children were GCS and 46 children as controls were recruited. The impacts of GCS on children were significantly higher than children brought to consult us for problems unrelated to the skin (P < 0.05), with the parameters symptoms and feelings, leisure, school or holidays, and treatment mostly affected. However, the scores were low. Four (17%) study subjects and none (0%) in the second control had total CDLQI higher than 30%. The difference is insignificant (RR: inapplicable; P = 0.11).

Impacts of AD on children were significantly higher than such for GCS (P < 0.001). Twelve (52%) children with AD and four (17%) children with GCS had total scores higher than 30% (RR: 3.00, 95% CI: 1.13 – 7.94; P < 0.05).

When compared to a similar study on children with pityriasis rosea, the impacts of GCS were very similar to those of pityriasis rosea.

Conclusion: GCS casts relatively low impacts on the QOL of children. These impacts were much lower than such of AD.