Abstract:
Background: Distal and lateral subungual onychomycosis (DLSO) is the most common clinical type of onychomycosis. The disease causes little physical handicap but it has a devastating effect on quality of life (QOL) particularly in our set up. Objective: The purpose of the study was to assess the effect of itraconazole pulse therapy on quality of life in Pakistani patients with DLSO. Methods: Sixty-two patients, 47 males and 15 females suffering from DLSO, age range 19 to 55 years, who were themselves able to understand and fill the questionnaire related with general and disease-specific QOL in English or Urdu version, were enrolled in the study. The total score ranged from 0-60. The higher the score, the greater was the impact on QOL. The patients were subjected to itraconazole pulse therapy and each pulse consisted of 200 mg twice a day for 7 days, followed by a drug-free interval of three weeks. Two pulses were given for fingernail onychomycosis and three pulses for toenail infection. The pre- and posttrial data was analyzed before and after therapy in 46 finger- and 16 toenail cases of DLSO. Results: The disease caused psychosocial problems (92%), economic problems in treatment (89.4%), difficulty in cutting nails (62.9%), physical contact problems with hands (60.8%), discomfort in wearing shoes and walking (56.2%), pain (33.8%), disturbance of work with hands (30.4%) and affected performance in sports (22.5%). After itraconazole pulse therapy, these problems decreased to 12.9%, 14.5%, 6.45%, 6.4%, 12.5%, 4.8%, 6.45% and 3.2%, respectively. The mean pretreatment score in patients with finger- and toenail disease was 32+3.4 and 29+4.5, respectively. The score dropped to 4.3+5.4 and 4.4+5.6 (P
Page(s):
198-204
DOI:
DOI not available
Published:
Journal: Journal of Pakistan Association of Dermatologists, Volume: 14, Issue: 4, Year: 2004