title: The diagnosis of onychomycosis in a geriatric population: a study of 450 cases in South Florida.
abstract: An investigative study was performed to determine the diagnosis of onychomycosis in a South Florida geriatric population. In this study, 450 cases of suspected onychomycosis involving men and women 65 years of age and older from a private practice office and two nursing home settings were used. Samples were taken from the hallux toenail and sent to a mycology laboratory for fluorescent potassium hydroxide (KOH) preparation and microscopic examination of a fungal culture. Of the 450 cases studied, 46.4% of the patients had a single fungal organism cultured, 30.4% had a mixed fungal infection cultured, and 23.1% had no fungal growth. Saprophytes were found in 59.9% of the 526 total fungal organisms cultured while dermatophytes were found in only 23.8%. The results of this investigation demonstrate that there may be a shift from isolated dermatophyte infection to mixed saprophyte infections in a geriatric population with onychomycosis.
authors.affiliation: Barry University School of Graduate Medical Sciences, Miami Shores, FL, USA.
authors.forename: W P
authors.initials: WP
authors.lastname: Scherer
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: McCreary
authors.forename: W W
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Hayes
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005431:Florida / Q000453:epidemiology; D005533:Foot Dermatoses / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology; D005658:Fungi / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009172:Mycology / Q000379:methods; D014009:Onychomycosis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology