Resumo

STRAMANDINOLI, Roberta Targa et al. Prevalence of oral candidiasis in hospitalized patients and evaluation of risk factors. RSBO (Online) [online]. 2010, vol.7, n.1, pp. 66-72. ISSN 1984-5685.

INTRODUCTION: Oral candidiasis (OC) is an opportunistic fungal infection, prevalent mainly in immunosuppressed patients. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the prevalence of OC in hospitalized patients in two university hospitals of Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná, Curitiba-PR, relating with local and systemic predisposing factors. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A total of 160 patients were evaluated between the months of July to October 2006. Besides the analysis of medical records, each patient was questioned and intra-and extra-oral clinically evaluated, looking for injuries consistent with candidiasis. RESULTS: The results were analyzed by the tests of the chi-square (x²) and the difference between two ratios, with a level of significance of 5%. Prevalence of oral candidiasis was 30% (n = 48). In relation to the local risk factors, prevalence of oral candidiasis was statistically dependent on the use of upper removable total or partial prosthesis, on the time of use of the same prosthesis, on the use of prosthesis during hospitalization, on the hygiene condition, on the frequency of cleaning and on the continued use of the prosthesis (p < 0.05). Among the systemic factors analyzed, prevalence of oral candidiasis was statistically dependent on the age of the patients and on the use of nasogastric probe (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Results indicate that local risk factors have a strong association with the prevalence of OC in hospitalized patients, emphasizing the importance regarding the oral hygiene care and the prosthesis of these patients, especially the ones that use a nasogastric probe.

Palavras-chave : oral candidiasis; prevalence; risk factors; hospitalized patients.