Treatment of tinea capitis in China: a multicenter prospective real-world study.

Abstract

Tinea capitis is still common in China. The gold standard for treatment is oral antifungal drugs. This study aimed to clarify the current epidemiological characteristics and efficacy of different treatments of tinea capitis in China. A multicenter, prospective real-world study involving 20 tertiary hospitals in China was conducted. From August 2020 to December 2021, 819 patients with tinea capitis were enrolled. Data concerning demography, clinical types, fungal tests, treatments and outcomes were analyzed. The most common pathogen was Microsporum canis (69.8%). Itraconazole (45.4%) and terbinafine (33.4%) were commonly used, while griseofulvin (16.0%) and fluconazole (5.3%) were less frequently prescribed. Most patients (81.9%) were clinically cured with the initial systemic antifungal treatment schemes. In treating gray patch tinea capitis, the success rate of oral terbinafine (58.1%) was significantly lower than itraconazole (92.2%) and fluconazole (91.3%). Treatment success rate of terbinafine for M. canis tinea capitis was 59.4%. All involved clinical centers are tertiary hospitals. Missing data may introduce bias. All four antifungal drugs have shown good efficacy and were well tolerated. More attention should be paid to the relatively low success rate of oral terbinafine in treating gray patch and M. canis tinea capitis.