Cutaneous Mastocytosis in Pediatric Patients With Skin of Color: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Cutaneous mastocytosis (CM) is a rare skin disease with limited data on its prevalence across different racial groups. This retrospective cohort study examines the characteristics of CM at Nationwide Children's Hospital (NCH) from January 2010 to June 2022, identifying 192 confirmed cases of CM and further stratifying this cohort to 155 patients with documented Fitzpatrick phototypes. There were two important findings: first, nine (4.7%) of the CM cases were Black and 165 (85.9%) were White, compared to 8502 (23.0%) Black and 21,177 (57.3%) White of the overall NCH dermatology population; second, 85.8% were Fitzpatrick phototypes I-III, and 14.9% were types IV-VI with no significant differences, other than types IV-VI being more likely to receive treatment (p = 0.01). Our study highlights the need to better understand the genetics and other risk factors of CM, as well as the social determinants of health impacting pediatric patients with skin of color.