Prevalence of flatfoot in school between 3 and 10 years. Study of two different populations geographically and socially.

INTRODUCTION: Children present with flatfoot from birth and it resolves along infancy. There have been several risk factors identified for the development of flatfoot: male sex, young age, overweight and obesity. The prevalence of flatfoot decreases with age. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of flatfoot in two different populations with different social, cultural and geographically characteristics in Colombia.

METHODS: This is a cross sectional study made on school children between 3 to 10 years of age, from several schools in Bogota and Barranquilla. From 940 total children 60% were from Bogota. Flatfoot was diagnosed according to physical exam.

RESULTS: We found a global prevalence of flatfoot of 15.7%, distributed 20.8% in Bogota and 7.9% in Barranquilla. The children from 3 to 5 years had a prevalence of 30.9%, decreasing significantly after this age. It was found that children 3 to 5 years old from Bogota had a prevalence of flatfoot of 38.3% while children from Barranquilla only 17.3%, decreasing significantly in children older than 6 years. In the multivariate analysis we found an association between flatfoot with age, city, gender and body mass index.

DISCUSSION: We found a bigger prevalence of flatfoot in the population of Bogota compared to Barranquilla suggesting an influence of social, cultural and racial factors in the development of flatfoot. The diminished prevalence of flatfoot in children over 6 years of age suggest that therapeutic measures before this age are not recommended.