ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: As far as we have sought for in Medline and PubMed, not one study until now has evaluated the prevalence of onychomycosis in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). As there are great evidence of immunological disturbances linked to IBD, a possible relationship of this nail infection in association with those diseases and the possible risk factors might be relevant in IBD patients. METHODS: A case-control prospective study using combined direct smear and cultures for fungus was performed. Sociodemographics, clinical and laboratorial data were recorded at baseline and samples of suspected nails were collected from 141 IBD (61 men and 80 women) and from a group of 100 non-IBD subjects (41 men and 59 women). Direct smear and cultures were performed on each suspected case to exclude other onychodystrophies. RESULTS: The incidence of onychomycosis in IBD patients was highly significant in comparison to non-IBD patients (14.9% vs. 6%, respectively, P < 0.05). The risk factors predisposing IBD patients to onychomycosis were older age (P = 0.02) and leucopoenia in those using azathioprine therapy (P = 0.04) beyond a trend to lymphopenia (P = 0.06). The dermatophytes predominated (76.2%) over yeasts (19%) and moulds (4.8%). CONCLUSION: The prevalence of onychomycosis in IBD patients was expressively high (14.9%) in comparison with non-IBD patients. Considering the sociodemographic factors, any one but two were related to fungal onychomycosis incidence. Therefore, as far as we are concerned, IBD must be included in the high-risk underlying conditions for onychomycosis occurrence.
