An epidemiological comparison between occupational and non-occupational hand eczema.

Thirty-four per cent of 2110 patients with eczema attending a contact dermatitis clinic had hand eczema. Fifty-five per cent (395 of 721) had contact dermatitis and 45% (326 of 721) had endogenous/unclassifiable eczema. Thirty-five per cent of cases (217 of 721) were occupational eczema. An epidemiological comparison of patients with occupational and non-occupational hand eczema (defined as eczema occurring on the hands up to the wrist line) was made. Hand eczema was more common in males in both groups, and there was a significantly larger proportion of males in the occupational group (65%) than the non-occupational group (51%) (P less than 0.001). The prevalence of a personal or family history of atopy was significantly lower in the occupational group (7%) than the non-occupational group (15%) (P less than 0.005). Irritant contact dermatitis occurred in a larger proportion of patients in the occupational group (76%) than the non-occupational group (39%) (P less than 0.0001). There was no significant difference between the proportions of patients with positive patch test reactions in the occupational group (34%) and the non-occupational group (41%). Potassium dichromate, and epoxy resin allergy occurred significantly, more frequently, in the occupational group whereas fragrance-mix allergy was significantly more frequent in the non-occupational group.