Nutritional koilonychia in 32 Iraqi subjects

 Koilonychia is taught to medical studients as a sign of iron deficiency anaemia.1,2 Koilonychia literally means " hollow nails " (Greek), i.e. spooning. However, flattening of nails is accepted as an early stage of koilonychia; thinning and softening of nails is commonly associated.3-6 In developed well-noursihed communities, koilonychia is rare,4 although it is reported occasionally in association with non-nutritional deficiency states,7-10 as a familial condition11-13 and in association with several dskin disease.14 Reports of as few as two cases8,9,13 stand as testimony of its rarity. However, in malnourished communities, nutritional koilonychia is not rare. Thus in rural Tanzania, the prevalence of " nutritional " koilonychia was reported to be 18.1% in 1996.15 In Iraq, while under the embargo of the U.N. Security Council, koilonychia was not uncommon. A study conducted in Mosul in 1998 stated an 8% prevalence rate of koilonychia in apparently normal adults and 29 percent among hyperthyroid patients,16 in whom anaemia was not evident but there was no confirmatory laboratory evidence. Admittedly, the association of koilonychia with chronic iron deficiency anaemia is unquestionable. The older generation of clinicians recalls severely anaemic farmers who displayed spooning of the nails due to ankylostomiasis; some enjoyed dropping water in such nails, which settles without falling off. However, the aetiological relation of koilonychia to iron deficiency has been questi...
Source: Annals of Saudi Medicine - Category: Journals (General) Tags: ISSUE 2 Source Type: research