{"title":"The burden of cutaneous fungal infections in a tertiary care hospital in Pakistan.","authors":"Najam-Us-Saher, Saadia Tabassum, Madiha Sajid, Yumna Khabir, Aisha Faheem","doi":"10.12669/pjms.41.1.9061","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>In Pakistan, the real extent of fungal infection is unknown. Our objective was to estimate the burden of major fungal diseases here to emphasize their public health importance.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>In this retrospective study, the medical records (January 2019 - December 2019) of 863 patients diagnosed with superficial fungal infection (SFI) were reviewed at the dermatology department of Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) Karachi. Stata 17.0 was used to analyze the data. Chi-squared test or Fisher's exact test was used to evaluate association between variables. Descriptive analyses include means, frequencies, standard deviations, and percentage tests whereas Poisson regression with robust standard error was used to examine the association of age, gender, diabetes, and type of SFI with recurrence of SFI.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>In this study, the most common SFI was tinea cruris (234/863, 27.1%) in men (n=62, 21.7%) and females (n=172, 29.8%) followed by pityriasis versicolor (n=77, 26.9%) in males and tinea corporis (n=115, 19.9%) in females. Tinea cruris recurrence rates were similar between males and females (34/234, 14.5%).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>These findings show that fungal infections are a public health problem in Pakistan and that additional research is needed to assess their frequency in the general population. Clinicians must be taught and made aware of these infections to enhance diagnosis and treatment.</p>","PeriodicalId":19958,"journal":{"name":"Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences","volume":"41 1","pages":"269-274"},"PeriodicalIF":1.2000,"publicationDate":"2025-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11755299/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.41.1.9061","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"MEDICINE, GENERAL & INTERNAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Objective: In Pakistan, the real extent of fungal infection is unknown. Our objective was to estimate the burden of major fungal diseases here to emphasize their public health importance.
Methods: In this retrospective study, the medical records (January 2019 - December 2019) of 863 patients diagnosed with superficial fungal infection (SFI) were reviewed at the dermatology department of Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) Karachi. Stata 17.0 was used to analyze the data. Chi-squared test or Fisher's exact test was used to evaluate association between variables. Descriptive analyses include means, frequencies, standard deviations, and percentage tests whereas Poisson regression with robust standard error was used to examine the association of age, gender, diabetes, and type of SFI with recurrence of SFI.
Results: In this study, the most common SFI was tinea cruris (234/863, 27.1%) in men (n=62, 21.7%) and females (n=172, 29.8%) followed by pityriasis versicolor (n=77, 26.9%) in males and tinea corporis (n=115, 19.9%) in females. Tinea cruris recurrence rates were similar between males and females (34/234, 14.5%).
Conclusion: These findings show that fungal infections are a public health problem in Pakistan and that additional research is needed to assess their frequency in the general population. Clinicians must be taught and made aware of these infections to enhance diagnosis and treatment.
期刊介绍:
It is a peer reviewed medical journal published regularly since 1984. It was previously known as quarterly "SPECIALIST" till December 31st 1999. It publishes original research articles, review articles, current practices, short communications & case reports. It attracts manuscripts not only from within Pakistan but also from over fifty countries from abroad.
Copies of PJMS are sent to all the import medical libraries all over Pakistan and overseas particularly in South East Asia and Asia Pacific besides WHO EMRO Region countries. Eminent members of the medical profession at home and abroad regularly contribute their write-ups, manuscripts in our publications. We pursue an independent editorial policy, which allows an opportunity to the healthcare professionals to express their views without any fear or favour. That is why many opinion makers among the medical and pharmaceutical profession use this publication to communicate their viewpoint.