An epidemiological study of the influence of season (cold and dry air) on the occurrence of irritant skin changes of the hands

Abstract

In the course of an ongoing cohort study on constitutional and occupational risk factors for the development of irritant hand dermatitis in hairdressing apprentices, an increased prevalence of irritant skin changes was noted in a subgroup examined during particularly cold winter months. Prompted by this observation, the importance of several meteorological factors (day means of temperature, relative and absolute humidity) was assessed in extensive statistical analyses based on data of 742 participants, supplemented by meteorological information obtained from the German Meteorological Service (DWD). There were significant associations of existing hand dermatitis with low temperature and low absolute humidity (Mann-Whitney U-test, P < 0.0001), but not with relative humidity (P = 0.38). Logistic regression analysis, including known determinants of irritant hand dermatitis in this setting, showed that low temperature and low relative humidity tended to be risk factors (OR = 1.66 and 1.57, respectively, for the lower quartiles, P = 0.07 in both cases), and confirmed that absolute humidity significantly influenced the occurrence of irritant hand dermatitis (OR = 2.06 for < 4.8 mg/L, P < 0.01). Thus, these environmental factors must be regarded as possible confounders in the analysis of future epidemiological studies on irritant hand dermatitis and should be considered in multifactorial analyses.

Risk of hand dermatitis among hairdressers versus office workers

“…Point and period prevalences of the outcome of interest in both cohorts are shown in table 1, together with the respective incidence rates relating new occurrences to the cumulated person-time at risk of the study participants. Analyses of the office cohort (9) and the hairdressing cohort (6,7,11) have been published previously; the following paper will focus on a comparison between the 2 cohorts based on prevalence data at the stage of final follow-up, employing a multifactorial analysis.…”

“…Low ambient absolute humidity had been found to be significantly associated with the occurrence of irritant skin changes of the hands in a previous analysis of 2 hairdressing subcohorts (7). Thus relevant meteorological parameters were obtained from the German Meterological Service (Deutscher Wetterdienst) for inclusion in the multivariate analysis.…”

“…Thus relevant meteorological parameters were obtained from the German Meterological Service (Deutscher Wetterdienst) for inclusion in the multivariate analysis. These parameters included mean values of ambient day temperature ("C) and relative humidity (%) on the days and places of examination; the respective values of absolute humidity (mg/l) were calculated from these parameters (7).…”

“…Studies of different design (references 3-5 among others) and, in particular, preliminary analyses from the present cohort study POSH (Prevention of Occupational Skin Disease in Hairdressers) have already indicated the importance of unprotected wet work, constitutional risk factors, and other (eg, environmental) factors (1,6,7).…”

Seasonal Variation in Perceived Indoor Environment and Nonspecific Symptoms in a Temperate Climate

“…Studies have shown that skin condition worsens after exposure to low humidity 7,8) , and that this is usually observed in seasons in which heating is used. In a Swedish study that examined seasonal variation in unspecific symptoms, however, the prevalence of most symptoms did not differ much throughout the four seasons 9) .…”