Abstract:
Introduction and objective: Cellulitis is a preventable condition which causes a
considerable amount of hospital admissions. Understanding the common risk factors for
the development of cellulitis is useful to prevent it. This study aimed to determine the
association of cellulitis with socio-demographic factors, BMI and diabetes mellitus
among patients admitted to the surgical casualty ward of Teaching Hospital, Jaffna.
Methods: An institution-based descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted from
February 2022 to July 2023 among 279 patients admitted to the surgical casualty ward
of Teaching Hospital, Jaffna. Data were collected using interviewer-administered
questionnaire and entered and analyzed using SPSS. Chi-square test was used to assess
for associations (critical level 0.05 level).
Results: Of 279 participants, majority were males 178 (63.8%), and many were within
the age range of 21-40 years (38%). In the sample, 66 (23.7%) patients had diabetes and
24 (8.6%) had cellulitis. A significant association of cellulitis with sex and age was
observed, where being female (58.3%) and age above 40 years (73.9%) had more risk.
Religion and highest educational qualification had a significant association with
cellulitis, whereas ethnicity, occupation and BMI category did not have any significant
association at the p value of 0.05. Meanwhile, diabetes had significant association with
sex and age where males (54.5%) and being above 40 years of age (87.8%) had more
risk. No significant association was observed between ethnicity, religion or BMI
category with diabetes. Development of cellulitis was significantly associated with
diabetes (54.2%) than non-diabetes (45.8%) at the p value of 0.05.
Conclusion and recommendations: As a significant association between diabetes and
cellulitis was observed, enhanced focus on diabetic patients is crucial to prevent
development of cellulitis with the consideration of socio-demographic factors such as
sex and age.
