Footbath Solutions and Athlete's Foot in High Schools

Abstract

Examinations of 1,326 high school pupils in grades 7 to 12 inclusive in San Leandro, California, revealed freedom from athlete's foot in only 35.5 per cent of the students. Fourteen other skin conditions of the feet were observed in 158 boys during the above examinations. The pupils were divided into a control group and an experimental group, which used a commercial solution known as a skin toughener for the control of athlete's foot. After a three-months period 1,136 of the original group were reexamined for evidence of athlete's foot.

The 489 pupils in the experimental group who used the skin toughening solution daily during the school week showed an average improvement over the control group that was found to be statistically significant at better than the 1 percent level. Improvements were observed in the experimental group in the degree or severity of infection with athlete's foot, in the number of interdigital spaces affected, and in the lesser number of original negatives who developed fungus infections of the feet during the three-months research period. The experimental group improved in all these respects, while the control group deteriorated in all respects.

Of 166 pupils in the experimental group with no evidence of athlete's foot at the initial examination, 27 developed the disorder during the three-month period of the study. Of 245 pupils in the control group, 106 changed from a negative status to that of a clinical diagnosis of athlete's foot. The advantage to the group using the solution was statistically significant at well below the 1 percent level.

In this investigation the commercial skin toughening solution under test was found to have definite values in the control and prevention of athlete's foot in a group of 1,136 boys over a three-month period of time. Users of the test solution maintained an advantage of approximately 3 to 1 over non-users of the solution in both the improvement of existing infections and the prevention of new infections.

A drying room, with heating units in the concrete floor, was found to have no value in the prevention of athlete's foot.

Evidence pertaining to the superiority of the foot mat or foot sprayer was found to be inconclusive, and more research on a comparison of these two devices is needed. Apparently exposure to the solution was more important than the method by which this exposure was achieved, since both devices provided enough solution to produce significantly favorable results.