Clinical Burden of Primarily Misdiagnosed Tinea capitis: A Comparative Statistical Analysis

Kwon, Osung; Chung, Hyun; Park, Joonsoo

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Tinea capitis has been recognized as the most commonly misdiagnosed scalp disease. Inappropriate medication and delayed intervention leads to a broad array of complications from prolongation of treatment to scarring of the scalp. The financial deficits and problems imparted on patients continue to be a clinical and social burden.
OBJECTIVE
The clinical and financial aspects between the initially misdiagnosed group and the properly diagnosed group were analyzed, to provide the epidemiologic basis and to address improvements for misdiagnoses of tinea capitis.
METHODS
A retrospective review of electronic and written chart was performed on all patients diagnosed of tinea capitis at Daegu Catholic University Medical Center (DCUMC) from January 2006 to June 2016. A total of 100 patients were included in the study and an initially misdiagnosed group and initially diagnosed group were evaluated.
RESULTS
Significant differences between the groups were not observed in variables including age, sex and occupation. The highest diagnostic precision was observed in dermatologists (78.4%) by using standard microscopic (31.0%) and culture studies (13.0%). Misdiagnosis rate was highest in pediatrics (34.9%) and erroneous examination such as laboratory test (48.4%) and Gram stain (19.4%) were countered in the misdiagnosed group. Additional clinic visits, prescriptions and extra trips to clinics resulted financial disadvantage in the misdiagnosed group.
CONCLUSION
The misdiagnosed tinea capitis was found to arise from unawareness of the disease that leads to inappropriate approach and medication prescription. The duration, complications and financial loss were reported to be higher in misdiagnosed group based on the study.