Current Status of Dermatophytosis: A Hospital-Based Study in Northern Odisha, India

Introduction Dermatophytosis is a superficial mycosis that affects the keratinized structures of skin, hair, and nails. In recent years, there has been a marked rise in superficial fungal infections in several parts of our country. Most of the cases are presented with chronic, recurrent, and resistant infections. There are no comprehensive data on the status of cases in our area. Currently, we have noticed a gradual decline in the number of cases in our day-to-day outpatient department compared to previous years. Therefore, the current retrospective study was conducted to assess the actual status and clinico-demographic trends of dermatophytosis among patients who visited the tertiary care hospital. Methods The current study is a retrospective study of 78,028 patients of dermatophytosis who reported to the tertiary care hospital. Data like demographic details, clinical examination findings, and laboratory investigation reports of patients were extracted from available records year-wise from 2018 to 2022. Results There was an initial rise of dermatophytosis until 2019 and, thereafter, a downward trend. Males (60.04%) outnumbered females (39.94%) with a proportion of 1.5:1. Most common age group belongs to 21-30 years (28.64%), of which a majority (53.07%) of patients had a disease duration of more than three months. The majority of patients (51.1%) belong to rural backgrounds, but there was urban predominance following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. The most common organism isolated from culture was Trichophyton mentagrophytes (61.98%) in the initial phases (2018 and 2019) and T. rubrum (31.67%) in the later phases (2020-2022). In the current study, a family history of dermatophytosis was present in 27% of cases. Tinea corporis was the most common (34.34%) clinical variant with atopic diathesis as a major co-morbidity (9.94%). Conclusion The findings of this study showed an initial increasing trend until 2019 and, thereafter, a downward trend. Therefore, similar types of studies may be carried out in different parts of the country to assess the actual status and, hence, a better and more efficient management of the disease.