A systematic review and meta-analysis on the epidemiology, casual agents and demographic characteristics of onychomycosis in Iran

Publication date: Available online 5 July 2019Source: Journal de Mycologie MédicaleAuthor(s): Z. Rafat, S.J. Hashemi, A.-A. Saboor-Yaraghi, B. Pouragha, A. Taheriniya, A. Moosavi, B. Roohi, R. Arjmand, A. Moradi, R. Daie-Ghazvini, S. BasiriAbstractOnychomycosis or fungal nail infection is one of the most common fungal infections. Nearly 50% of all nail disorders are caused by fungi. This systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to determine the prevalence of onychomycosis across Iran. We searched English and Persian databases for studies reporting the epidemiologic features of onychomycosis in Iranian people from January 2000 to December 2018. Literature search revealed 307 studies, of which 24 studies met the eligibility criteria. In order to identifying the existence of publication bias among studies, funnel plots were used. The results of the meta-analysis were visualized as a forest plot representing the prevalence estimates of each study. Heterogeneity was also analyzed using the I2, Chi2, and Tau2 statistics. A high level of I2 and Chi2 was obtained among studies, which provides evidence of notable heterogeneity between studies. The results of current study revealed that the highest prevalence of onychomycosis was related to Mazandaran and Tehran provinces, respectively. As in the literature hypothesized shift in etiologic agents from yeasts to dermatophytes or molds could not be confirmed. Females were affected more frequently than males and in both sexes the...
Source: Journal of Medical Mycology - Category: Biology Source Type: research