Skin mycosis distribution, and burden of visits over a decade in Colombia: ecological study

Objectives

To describe the sociodemographic distribution of dermatomycosis and the visits burden over a 10-year period of care.

Methods

An ecological study was conducted using data on visits and people treated in the Colombian Health System during 2010-2019 using the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision codes (ICD-10). Departments and geopolitical regions were the units of analysis, and visit burden was reported as frequency, intensity (visits per person), and rate of dermatomycosis visits (per 10,000 visits; 95% confidence interval).

Results

A total of 4,570,593 visits were analyzed. The most used ICD-10 codes were B369 (superficial mycosis, unspecified), B360 (pityriasis versicolor), B354 (Tinea corporis), B359 (dermatophytosis), and B351 (Tinea unguium) (56.5%), with visits primarily involving the adult population (27-59 years; 32.2%), women (43.4%), and urban populations (57.3%). Amazonas department had the highest rate of visits (2.36 per 10,000), while Nariño had the highest intensity of visits (1.94 visits per person). Caribbean region had the highest rate of visits (17.0 per 10,000 visits; 17.0-17.0), followed by the Amazon region (16.3 per 10,000 visits; 16.2-16.4).

Conclusions

The annual visits burden of dermatomycosis in Colombia is high and concentrated in susceptible geographic areas, possibly due to socio-environmental factors. This health problem is overshadowed by chronic diseases and trauma but is often recurrent, and chronic, and induces out-of-pocket costs for treatment.