Growth Rate of the Great Toenails in the Diabetic and Non-diabetic with or without Onychomycosis

Kwon, Hyeok Man; Kim, Jeong Soo; Yu, Hee Joon

Abstract

BACKGROUND
The diabetic patients have a tendency to develop onychomycosis more frequently than non-diabetic populations have. The overall risk ratio of individuals with diabetes having onychomycosis is 2.77 compared with age- and sex- matched non-diabetic controls. OBJECTIVE: This study was performed to find out whether the nail growth rates of diabetic patients are more slower than those of non-diabetic persons with or without onychomycosis and to observe the differences of the toenail growth rates according to the affected area of onychomycosis (less than 50% and more than 50%) within the diabetic and non-diabetic groups respectively. METHOD: The growth rates of the great toenails of 74 diabetic patients and 121 non-diabetic controls with or without onychomycosis were measured. To compare the toenail growth rates between the two groups, we classified the patients in each group into 3 subgroups according to the presence and degree of onychomycosis. Thus the two groups were divided into 6 groups. RESULTS: The growth rates of diabetic toenails without onychomycosis were slower than those of non-diabetic controls with statistical significance (p< 0.05). And the growth rates of the great toenails in non-diabetic patients were more slower according to their affected area, so to say, the more, the slower (p< 0.05). But, in diabetic patients, the growth rates of the great toenails were not different according to the affected area of onychomycosis (p> 0.05). CONCLUSION: Slow nail growth may play a role in the development of onychomycosis because the nail growth rate was slower in diabetic patients than non-diabetics. But the treatment of onychomycosis in diabetic patients should be encouraged because the toenail growth rates are not different statistically between diabetic and non-diabetic patients when the great toenails are affected.