Self-report occupational-related contact dermatitis: prevalence and risk factors among healthcare workers in Gondar town, Northwest Ethiopia, 2018—a cross-sectional study

Abstract

BackgroundOccupational skin diseases are the second most common occupational diseases and are responsible for an estimated 25% of all lost work days. Occupational contact dermatitis (OCD) comprises 70–90% of all occupational skin diseases. In Ethiopia, information about the prevalence and factors which determine developments of contact dermatitis is not recognized. The objective of this study was to investigate prevalence and factors influencing the occurrences of occupational-related contact dermatitis among healthcare workers in Gondar town, Northwest Ethiopia.MethodsWe employed a healthcare-based cross-sectional study from March to April 2018. A stratified sampling method followed by simple random sampling method was used to select 422 participants. The standardized Nordic Occupational Skin Questionnaire was pretested and interviewer-administered for data collection. We used SPSS version 20 to conduct a binary logistic regression analysis. We set ≤ 0.05 p value to ascertain significance and 95% CI with odds ratios to evaluate the strength of associations.ResultsResponse rate was 100%. The majority, 52.4% (N = 221), were males. The mean age was 22.6 (SD ± 6.3) years. The overall prevalence of self-report occupational contact dermatitis in the previous 12 months was 31.5% (N = 133) [95% CI (27, 36.2)]. The highest symptoms indicated was redness, 28.5% (n = 38), followed by burning, 17.3% (n = 23). The hand is the most commonly affected body sites, 22% (N = 93). Hand washing frequency [AOR 1.80, 95% CI (1.10, 3.20)], pairs of hand gloves used per day [AOR 3.22, 95% CI (2.05, 5.87)], personal history of allergy [AOR 2.37, 95% CI (1.32, 4.61)], and lack of health and safety training [AOR 2.12, 95% CI (1.12, 2.25)] were factors considerably associated with contact dermatitis.ConclusionsThe prevalence of occupational-induced contact dermatitis is common among healthcare workers in Ethiopia. Therefore, our finding indicates that intervention aiming at workers’ health and safety training demands urgent public health responses to tackle the ailment. The result also demonstrates that healthcare workers should be aware of when and how hands should be washed. The number of pairs of gloves used per day should also be taken into consideration while devising prevention strategies.

Altered Epidermal Permeability Barrier Function in the Uninvolved Skin Supports a Role of Epidermal Dysfunction in the Pathogenesis of Occupational Hand Eczema

“…Regarding risk factors, many factors can contribute to the development of hand eczema. Occupational wet work and frequent hand washing have been considered as major contributors to hand eczema at least in the health care industry [18,19]. However, the present study did not reveal any link between hand eczema and either wet work or frequent hand washing.…”

“…We show here that the lifetime prevalence of hand eczema was 9.7%, while point prevalence was 5.4% in this cohort, which both were low-er than that reported in European populations [14]. Although no efforts were made to differentiate allergic from irritant contact dermatitis, hand eczema in this cohort likely was, at least to a large extent, irritant contact dermatitis because (1) the majority of occupational hand eczemas are irritant rather than allergic contact dermatitis [15,18] and (2) the prevalence of hand eczema was comparable in subjects with and without a history of allergies.…”

Occupational-Related Contact Dermatitis: Prevalence and Risk Factors Among Healthcare Workers in the Al'Qassim Region, Saudi Arabia During the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Our study shows that the commonly reported symptom is skin dryness (92.9%), whereas an Ethiopian study was done in 2018 showed the majority of the participants reported skin redness (28.6%) [5]. However, the hands are the most affected area in both studies.…”

Prevalence and Risk Factors of Occupational Skin Disease in Korean Workers from the 2014 Korean Working Conditions Survey

“…OSD is usually not a serious condition; however, it can result in conditions that are severe and difficult to treat, and it can cause discomfort and functional changes that interfere with social life and work 823. Numerous studies have evaluated the consequences of OSD on work productivity and have reported on working days lost,72329 although we could not find a significant difference in the loss of working days between subjects with and without OSD (data not shown). Disability is often reported, which may require adaptations or changes for a different position 71923.…”