Pattern of skin diseases among civil population and armed forces personnel at Pune

The pattern of skin disorders among 11393 civil and 8123 defence service personnel who attended out-patient department (OPD) from January 1989 to December 1994 is presented. Infective dermatoses were more common in civil population (41.2%) as compared to defence service personnel (36.3%). Fungal infection was common in both groups (15.1% and 17.2%) whereas parasitic infestations and pyoderma were more common in civil population (12.8% and 6.1%) as compared to service personnel (7.8% and 3.6%). Among non-infective dermatoses eczemas were more common in civil population (17.3%) as compared to Armed Forces personnel (11.7%), whereas papulosquamous disorders, pigmentary disorders, acne and alopecia were more common in Armed Forces personnel (13.5%, 13.4% 8.7% and 6.2%) as compared to civil population (10.8%, 10.1%, 6.4% and 4.1%). The incidence of other skin disorders did not differ much between the two groups.