Allergic contact dermatitis in children

Abstract

The authors report a study of allergic contact dermatitis in 329 Portuguese children of 14 years or younger. 170 children (64 male and 106 female) reacted to 1 or more allergens. Most of these were in the 11-14 years group. The main allergens were nickel, thimerosal, cobalt, mercury, fragrance-mix and potassium dichromate. Nickel reactivity predominated in females over the whole group, but a greater number of males younger than 5 years reacted to nickel. The number of positive reactions increased with age, but this was not accompained by an increase in the % of relevant tests. 12 children, all of them 13 or 14 years-old, had an occupational allergic contact dermatitis.

Effect of age and sex on the induction and elicitation of allergic contact dermatitis

“…Metals, especially nickel, topical medicaments, rubber, fragrances and other ingredients in cosmetics are common causes of ACD in chidren (14). Irritant reactions from patch testing with standard reagents are commonly found in 0-1 year of age and more commonly than in older children or adults.…”

“…Topical medications that frequently test positive are neomycin, thimerosal, merbromin (mercurochrome), ethylenediamine and balsam of Peru. Other allergens include metals, e.g., cobalt and potassium dichromate, mercury (9,10,11,(14)(15)(16)(17)(18), mercaptobenzothiazole (17,19), and fragrance.…”

“…of all age groups, except in the 1-5 years group, in which males numbered more than females (14). Topical medications that frequently test positive are neomycin, thimerosal, merbromin (mercurochrome), ethylenediamine and balsam of Peru.…”

Textile dye allergic contact dermatitis prevalence

“…While dermatologists have reported cases of skin reactions suspected to be caused by textile dyes since 1869 (1), they have reported textile-dye prevalence results only during the last decade (2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12). This article summarizes the textile-dye prevalence studies (2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12) and makes recommendations for advancing knowledge about textile-dye sensitization.…”

“…This article summarizes the textile-dye prevalence studies (2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12) and makes recommendations for advancing knowledge about textile-dye sensitization.…”