Comportamiento de la celulitis cervical-facial en una comunidad venezolana

a descriptive, longitudinal and prospective study in 87 patients from 0 to 60 years old and more (age bracket established by who), was conducted from may to september 2009 at "cerros de marín" comprehensive health area, maracaibo district, zulia state, venezuela. patients were informed about the characteristics of the study including an informed consent for each of the cases. once the diagnosis was stablished, the behavior of cervicofacial cellulitis was analyzed, where age, sex, etiology, most affected anatomical regions and most frequent symptoms were taken as variables into the study. data were processed using descriptive statistical methods to be represented in charts for the distribution of frequencies. hypothesis and chi-square tests having a level of significance p<0, 05 were used. male sex was the most affected (dental-origin cellulitis), ages from 35 to 59 prevailed. the most common symptoms were edema and pain in the masseter muscle and submandibular regions. venezuelan medical doctors and dentists created an educational proposal to modify the level of knowledge concerning this topic in the community.