Determinants of respiratory diseases in East Sikkim.

BACKGROUND: Due to the difficult geographic terrain with lack of roads and transport, the Sikkim State in India finds difficulties in contending the respiratory diseases especially during the rainy seasons. FINDINGS: A case-control study was conducted for two months at the Central Referral Hospital of East Sikkim involving 110 individuals in the age group of 10 years and above. Due to feasibility constraints, 55 cases and 55 controls were selected by applying the non-probability sampling method with age and sex matching. The collected data were tabulated and analyzed by using the SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) version 10.0 for windows. Findings were expressed in terms of proportion, Chi Square Test and Multiple Logistic Regression Analysis. Here, p-value <0.05 was considered as statistically significant. This study revealed that the presence of overcrowding, chronic exposure to allergens, smoking habits, chronic respiratory illnesses within last 5 years, family history of chronic respiratory illnesses and mental illnesses were independently associated with respiratory diseases. CONCLUSION: This study should be replicated in other parts of Sikkim to obtain more confirmatory evidence on determinants of respiratory diseases.

Pattern of Nonmelanoma Skin Cancers in Sikkim, India: A 3-year Clinicopathological Review.

Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), in combination, are referred to as Nonmelanoma skin cancers (NMSCs). NMSC has not been extensively studied in the population of the North eastern India as it has been done in the rest of India. This study was performed to understand the pattern of NMSCs in head and neck region in Sikkimese population. The present study is a retrospective analysis of NMSC of head and neck region that presented to the Department of ENT, Sikkim Manipal Institute of Medical sciences (SMIMS), a tertiary care center in Gangtok, Sikkim from July 2009 to July 2012. They were reviewed according to age, gender, site of involvement and histological types. Of the thirty-seven cases of NMSC analyzed during the 3 year study period, 24 cases were SCC and 13 cases were BCC. The most common age group for SCC was 40-50 years and BCC was 61-70 years. The most common site for both SCC and BCC was the upper lip. For SCC, the most common histologically type was well-differentiated and for BCC, it was the solid type. NMSCs comprise a small but significant proportion of all skin cancer patients in the world. SCC is the commonest variety unlike in western countries. The importance of understanding the risk factors as well as studying the frequency of histopathological patterns can help in the overall prognostic outlook for patients and also in planning an effective management.