Most common dermatologic topics published in five high-impact general medical journals, 1970-2012: melanoma, psoriasis, herpes simplex, herpes zoster, and acne.

CONTEXT: General practitioners frequently encounter skin diseases and are accustomed to diagnosing the most common dermatologic conditions.

OBJECTIVE: We sought to determine the most common dermatologic topics published in five high-impact general medical journals (New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, the Journal of the American Medical Association, British Medical Journal (now The BMJ), and Annals of Internal Medicine).

DESIGN: We conducted an independent search of the Thomson Reuters’ Science Citation Index for common dermatologic topics, limited to the period 1970 to 2012.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Total number of publications dealing with each dermatologic topic considered.

RESULTS: The five most common dermatologic topics published were melanoma, psoriasis, herpes simplex, herpes zoster, and acne. Melanoma and psoriasis were the top two dermatologic topics published in each journal except for Annals of Internal Medicine.

CONCLUSIONS: Internists frequently diagnose herpes simplex, herpes zoster, and acne, which are also common dermatologic topics published. Although internists infrequently diagnose melanoma and psoriasis, they are major topics for general medical journals because of their increased community awareness, major advancements in therapeutic research, and their nondermatologic manifestations.