Epidemiologia del piede piatto e cavo nell'infanzia. Chirurgia del Piede.

Podoscopic examination was performed in 582 children (index subjects) aged 4 to 10 years, and in 132 couples of parents and 114 siblings of index subjects with flat or cavus foot or normal foot. In the index subjects the overall incidence of flat foot was 15 % with a greater frequency in males; the incidence decreased from 29 % to 14 % between 4 and 6 years and then remained substantially stable. Two thirds of the affected children had a flat foot of slight or moderate severity; 39 °/o were obese. Overall, a cavus foot was found in 16 % of the index subjects, females being more frequently affected; the incidence of the deformity ranged from 3 % at 4 years to about 20 % at 8-10 years. The frequency of flat foot was significantly higher in the parents (33%) and siblings (31 %) of the index subjects with flat foot than in the parents (10%) and siblings (11 %) of the index subjects with a normal foot. No familiar predisposition to cavus foot was observed.