Foot diseases in almost 100% of cases are conditions accompanied by severe discomfort for the patient, limiting their daily activity and in some cases causing serious structural and functional changes. Diseases such as diabetes mellitus, neurogenic and vascular damage may be associated with these conditions. However, to date there is not enough data on the prevalence and structure of foot diseases, as well as their relationship to risk factors and associated pathology.

European researchers have attempted to assess the prevalence and structure of foot diseases, as well as to identify predisposing factors and their correlation with this pathology.

The Achilles Project study involved 16 European countries, including USA. It consisted of two parts - Study I and Study II, which included patients who came to see GPs and dermatologists from 1997 to 1998. In Study I, patients were only seen a clinical examination; in Study II, the patients underwent clinical and mycological examinations.

In Study I, 70,497 patients were included in Study II - 19588. In the first study, 57% of the patients had at least one foot disease, and in the second, 61.3%.

The ratio of patients with a fungal etiology and non-fungal diseases was 34.9% and 38.4% in Study I and 40.6% and 41.7% in Study II. Among the "non-fungal" etiology, various orthopedic changes prevailed, including pes planus, pes valgus, pes varus, pes cavus and others, and metatarsal horns (metatarsals).

Onychomycosis and tinea pedis were the main fungal lesions of the feet (78.3% and 43%, respectively). In 21.3% of patients, these two conditions were observed. Among the etiology of fungal diseases, fungi of the genus Trichophyton (75.1%) predominated, fungi of the genus Candida (11.8%) and Aspergillus were also quite often> (5.9%).

The most common predisposing factors were obesity, vascular damage and diseases of the osteoarticular system. In almost half of the cases, it was not possible to identify a single predisposing factor in studies I and II (40.5% and 44.1%, respectively). In men, the incidence was slightly higher than in women (57% and 41%, respectively).

Thus, this study showed a fairly high prevalence of foot diseases among the population of European countries with a high incidence of fungal infections.