Prevalence of athlete’s foot in Bahrain Royal Navy

Abstract EN

Background : Tinea pedis is a very common infection especially in the army and limited studies have been performed to establish the prevalence and associations and had never been performed in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Objective : To evaluate the prevalence of tinea pedis in Bahrain Royal Navy.

Design : A cross-sectional study.

Setting : Bahrain Royal Navy.

Method : One hundred and eighty-three individuals were randomly selected, interviewed and examined by physicians.

The result was incorporated into SPSS software to establish the prevalence and associations.

Affected individuals were sent to the Naval Medical Centre for proper medical management.

Result : Sixty-four out of 183 subjects were clinically infected with tinea pedis, point prevalence of 35%.

Forty-two (65.6 %) were unaware of the infection, 5 (7.8 %) were diabetics and 17 (26.6 %) sought treatment in the past.

Thirty-four (53.1%) were Bahrainis and 38 (59.4 %) of the affected individuals were living in the naval base.

Twenty-nine (45.3 %) patients were aged 40-60 years and 34 (53.1 %) patients served the military 11-20 years.

Conclusion : Tinea pedis is a very prevalent infection among Bahrain Royal Navy personnel.

Maintenance of personal and environmental hygiene is crucial and must be implemented to reduce the morbidity of this disease in all army personnel.