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INTRODUCTION: Dermatophytosis is a fungal infection of the skin, hair, and nails. In the past several years, it has emerged as a general public health problem in our country. Studies from different regions reveal varying patterns of etiological distribution of the disease. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To estimate the prevalence of different fungal species associated with dermatophytosis and to find out any possible association of the type of fungus with different clinical parameters of the disease. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study among 311 clinically diagnosed dermatophytosis cases from a tertiary care center in eastern India. Potassium hydroxide (KOH) mount and fungal culture were done from samples of skin, hair, and nails, and various clinical parameters were analyzed. RESULTS: There was a male preponderance among cases and maximum patients belonged to third decade of life. Most common presentation was tinea corporis et cruris (39.5%). Family history was positive in 48.8% of cases. Trichophyton mentagrophytes was the most common fungal species (79.91%) grown in culture followed by Trichophyton rubrum (13.53%). Majority of patients had a mild body surface area involvement. We did not find statistically significant association of any clinical parameters with type of organism isolated. CONCLUSION: Trichophyton mentagrophytes was the most common isolated fungal species. This is in contrast to several studies where T.rubrum was the frequently found organism. There was no significant association of any clinical parameters like body surface area, number of sites, or duration of diseasewith fungal species isolated in culture.
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BACKGROUND: Skin tags are benign polyps, usually found in the natural folds of the skin. Some studies have found an association of skin tags with obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and atherogenic lipid profile. Metabolic syndrome refers to co-occurrence of these cardiovascular risk factors such as insulin resistance, obesity, dyslipidemia, and hypertension. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To find out any possible association of skin tags with metabolic syndrome and its components. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A case-control study was conducted including 140 participants. Seventy patients with skin tags were considered cases, and 70 age- and sex-matched patients without skin tags were considered as controls. Various anthropometric and biochemical parameters were compared and analyzed between the two groups. RESULTS: Univariate analysis revealed significantly higher waist circumference, high triglyceride, and low high-density lipoproteins (HDLs) in cases compared to controls. The prevalence of diabetes, hypertension, and metabolic syndrome was significantly higher in patients with skin tags, and risk of developing metabolic syndrome was 11.13 times higher in cases compared to controls (P < 0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed high waist circumference and low serum HDL had significant association with skin tags. CONCLUSION: Risk of development of metabolic syndrome is significantly higher in patients with skin tags. Among the various components of metabolic syndrome, only high waist circumference and low serum HDLs are significantly associated with skin tags.