The prevalence of dermatophytoses in Brazil: a systematic review

Abstract

Dermatophytosis is a common cutaneous mycosis worldwide whose prevalence in Brazil is still unknown. This systematic review has estimated the burden of dermatophytoses from updated literature data reported in the general Brazilian population. We used the following databases: Web of Science, Medline/PubMed, Embase, The Cochrane Library and Scopus for studies published between 2011 and 2020. Original articles with an emphasis on prevalence data for dermatophytosis in the Brazilian population, and diagnosed by culture exam or molecular biology were eligible. We also assessed the methodological quality of the studies. A total of 24 articles met the inclusion criteria and were reviewed. The occurrence of dermatophytoses found in the studies ranged from 4–88.50 %. The pooled prevalence of dermatophytosis for the population studies was 25 % (95 % CI: 24.7–25.3 %). The size of the samples used in the studies ranged from 45 to 36 446 participants, and ages ranged up to 98 years old. The populations studied involved mostly women. The presence of tinea unguium (toenail and fingernail) and tinea pedis were the most frequent dermatophytosis, and we observed a predominance of Trichophyton rubrum, T. interdigitale and T. mentagrophytes. The studies were primarily conducted in patient groups with suspected mycoses and were not entirely representative of the general population. Yet we believe that in the future, more collaborative strategies would improve both diagnostic capacity and epidemiological methodologies, associating the prevalence of dermatophytosis with social and environmental risk factors. This review helps to better understand future epidemiological trends in Brazil and the world.