Individual and Environmental Risk Factors for Hand Eczema in Hospital Workers

Abstract

Individual and environmental risk factors in hand eczem a have been investigated in a prospective cohort study of 2452 newly employed hospital workers with a follow-up time of 20 months. Current hand eczem a was analyzed in 142 wet hospital workers from this cohort with respect to the etiologic importance of irritants, allergens and contact urticants. The density of the microflora and the effect on the microflora of topical treatment with a potent corticosteroid were studied in 20 patients with hand eczem a. 'W e t' hospital work was found to increase the odds of developing hand eczem a only twice compared to 'dry' office work. Nursing children under four years old and the lack of a dish-washing machine signifi cantly increased the risk of contracting hand eczem a. Unfavourable combinations of these domestic factors increased the risk as much as wet work. A history of atopic dermatitis approximately tripled the odds both in wet as well as in dry work. Histories of earlier hand eczem a (HHE), metal dermatitis (HM D) and of atopy were analyzed as risk factors for hand eczem a in 1857 women in wet work. HHE increased the odds by a factor of 12.9 and created a subdivision of the population into high risk individuals and normal risk individuals. HHE was found in half of the subjects with atopic derm ati tis, in one quarter of the subjects with atopic mucosal symptoms and in one fifth of the non-atopics. A HM D increased the odds by a factor of 1.8. This increase was seen as a high risk level in subjects with HHE and as a normal risk level in subjects with no HHE. A history of atopic disease as a complement to information about HHE and HM D in creased the odds by another 1.3 times. The predicted probability of de veloping hand eczem a ranged from 91 % in subjects with a combi nation of HHE, H M D and atopy to 2 4 % in subjects with none of these risk factors. Subjects with AD were found to suffer a more severe form of hand eczem a with significantly higher figures for medical consultation, sickleave, termination due to hand eczem a, early debut, permanent sym toms and vesicular lesions. Amongst the patients investigated for current hand eczem a high risk individuals were overrepresented. It was claimed in 9 2.3 % of the cases that trivial irritant factors had elicited the current episodes of hand eczema. In 3 5 % of the cases the exposure to the irritant took place largely at home. Although contact sensitivity and contact urticaria were fairly common, they mostly seemed to be of minor impor tance in the etiology of the current hand eczema. S ta p h y lo co c cu s aureus colonized eczematous lesions of the hands in 18/20 patients. The density exceeded 105 colony forming units/cm2 in 15/20 patients. Only three of these patients showed signs of clinical infection. Successful topical treatm ent with a potent corticosteroid significantly reduced the colonization of S. aureus.