We found a high prevalence of anxiety and depression in our study population of patients with occupational hand eczema. Preventive measures should consider the psychosocial implications of occupational hand eczema.

Chronic stress is an additional factor predicting cumulative sickness absence among severely affected OHE patients. Other relevant factors for this study sample included the 'cognitive weariness' subscale of the Shirom Melamed Burnout Measure and the physical component summary score of the SF-36, a measure of health-related life quality. Prevention and rehabilitation should take job stress into consideration in multidisciplinary treatment strategies for severely affected OHE patients.

Our data underscore the importance of psychological interventions in addition to dermatological treatment in the framework of prevention measures for OHE. These measures should be applied at an early stage of OHE prior to the occurrence of sick leave.