Clinical and Mycological Features of Tinea Capitis in Korea: Analysis of 61 Cases from 1990 to 2018 / 대한피부과학회지

ABSTRACT

Background@#Tinea capitis, a superficial dermatomycosis, is caused by a dermatophyte infection on the scalp and hair. Recently, the number of adult patients with tinea capitis have been increasing; therefore, the clinical and mycological features of tinea capitis may be different from those of previous reports. However, only a few studies on adult tinea capitis have been conducted in Korea. Objective: This study aimed to analyze the clinical and mycological features of Korean adult patients with tinea capitis. @*Methods@#A retrospective review of 61 adult patients with tinea capitis was conducted. Clinical features including age, sex, clinical type, and treatment outcome were obtained from medical records and images. The mycological features, including the result of KOH smear and fungal culture, were also analyzed. @*Results@#The mean onset age was 61.3 years, and the male-to-female ratio was 14.1. Two patients (3.3%) had a family history of developing the same symptoms, and 17 (27.9%) had a history of close contact with animals. The most predilection site was the vertex, followed by the frontal and parietal areas. Microsporum canis was cultured in 66.7% patients, and Trichophyton rubrum was cultured in 28.6% patients. The number of adult patients with tinea capitis has been increasing constantly. The proportion of patients infected by T. rubrum has been increasing since 2000. Of the 51 patients who received treatments, 42 showed improvements. No significant difference was observed between patients treated with terbinafine and itraconazole. @*Conclusion@#This is the large-scale study that analyzed the clinical and mycological features of Korean adult patients with tinea capitis.