Shimla, July 5 -- The prevalence of gallstone disease in the Spiti Valley-a tribal region of Himachal Pradesh situated between 3,000 and over 4,000 metres above sea level-has surpassed rates found in the rural Ganga basin and the Kashmir Valley, which sits at a lower average elevation of 1,580 to 1,850 metres. A recent study found that 21.3% of the examined population in the Spiti Valley suffers from the condition.

The findings mean that more than one in five adults in Spiti had gallstones. Conducted between 2024 and 2026, the project was a collaborative effort between doctors from the department of surgery at Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital (IGMC), Shimla, and the Himachal Pradesh Council for Science, Technology and Environme...