Citation

Oliveira JT, Santos MS, Naves WV, Costa HL, Santos AS, et al. (2019) Clinical and Etiological Study of Onychomycosis in Institutionalized Elderly in Goiânia City, Goiás State, Brazil. J Geriatr Med Gerontol 5:062. doi.org/10.23937/2469-5858/1510062

Copyright

© 2018 Oliveira JT, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

RESEARCH ARTICLE | OPEN ACCESS DOI: 10.23937/2469-5858/1510062

Clinical and Etiological Study of Onychomycosis in Institutionalized Elderly in Goiânia City, Goiás State, Brazil

Jefferson Teixeira Oliveira1, Mateus Silva Santos2, Wesley Vieira Naves3, Hygor Lima Costa1, Andressa Santana Santos4, Vivianny Aparecida Queiroz Freitas4, Maria do Rosário Rodrigues Silva4, Milton Camplesi Junior1, Antonio Márcio Teodoro Cordeiro Silva1 and Fábio Silvestre Ataides1*

1Institute of Health Sciences, University Paulista Campus Flamboyant, Brazil

2Postgraduate Program in Genetic, MGene, Pontifical Catholic University of Goiás, Brazil

3Postgraduate Program in Environmental Sciences and Health, Pontifical Catholic University of Goiás, Brazil

4Postgraduate Program in Tropical Medicine and Public Health, Federal University of Goiás, Brazil

Abstract

Background

Onychomycosis is fungal nail infection, which can be associated with some factors, such as decreased nail growth and immunodeficiency, makes the elderly predisposed to onychomycosis. The objective of this study was to investigate the frequency of onychomycosis in elderly institutionalized, and to verify the effects that the infection had in their daily routine.

Methods

This study was carried in gerontological complexes of Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil, with 58 elderly who exhibited clinical suspicion of onychomycosis and a questionnaire was provided to the elderly regarding the effects that the infection had in their daily routine.

Results

Among the 33 cases of the onychomycosis confirmed, 63.6% were female and 36.4% male. The participant ages ranged from 55 to 86 years (51.3 years ± SD = 32.8). In this study, no statistically significant between age (p = 0.362) and sex (p = 0.234) associated of Onychomycosis in institutionalized elderly. The etiological agents Trichophyton rubrum were isolated in 9.1% and Fusarium spp. in 15% of the positive samples. The genus Candida was identified in 46.5% of the samples, and Candida parapsilosis (30.3%) was the most frequent species. The applied questionnaire verified that more than 90% of participants answered that other people notice the presence of the nail lesion; That the of nail injuries influences their choice of shoes; and that perceive the difference in nail characteristics, such as thickness and discoloration.

Conclusion

This study found a higher frequency of onychomycosis in women, and the main etiological agents were Candida spp. and Fusarium spp. The onychomycosis significantly changes the routine of its patients, with most participants reporting that people find it unpleasant to look at their nails and note the problem and they are uncomfortable with the appearance of the lesion. In clinical question, the participants also notice the change in the characteristics of their nails, difficulty in cutting and, nail and finger/toe pain.