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Epidemiology of Chronic Paronychia in a Skin Hospital in Singapore
Author(s) -
Chow E.,
Goh C. L
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
international journal of dermatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.677
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1365-4632
pISSN - 0011-9059
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-4362.1991.tb04789.x
Subject(s) - paronychia , medicine , epidemiology , nail (fastener) , onycholysis , dermatology , male to female , thumb , retrospective cohort study , surgery , materials science , metallurgy
A retrospective epidemiologic study of 110 patients with chronic paronychia (CP) showed a female‐male ratio of 2·3:1, whereas the ratio of patients attending the same clinic was 1·1:1 (p < 0·001). The peak age range of patients with CP (40–49 years) generally was greater than that of the general dermatologic patients (20–29 years). Seventy‐seven percent of the patients with CP were “manual workers,” of which 48% were homemakers. Chronic paronychia was more common on the right fingers than the left fingers. The most commonly affected fingers were the right thumb (62%), followed by the right middle finger (52%), left thumb (57·6%), and left middle finger (51·5%). Mechanical trauma appears to be an important predisposing factor in CP. Sixty‐two percent of 68 patients who had nail fold smears had positive findings for budding yeast cells, suggestive of candidal infection. All of the six patients for whom nail fold bacterial cultures were performed had positive results for enteric flora.