Occupational hand eczema and/or contact urticaria: factors associated with change of profession or not remaining in the workforce

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

BACKGROUND: Occupational hand eczema and/or contact urticaria may have social consequences such as change of profession or not remaining in the workforce.

OBJECTIVES: To identify factors associated with job change in a cohort of participants with recognised occupational hand eczema/contact urticaria METHODS: A registry-based study including 2703 employees with recognised occupational hand eczema/contact urticaria in Denmark in 2010/2011. Four to five years later the participants received a follow-up questionnaire, comprising questions on current job situation (response rate 58.0%).

RESULTS: At follow-up, 51.3% of the participants were no longer in the same profession. 32.5% had changed profession and 18.8% were no longer in employment. Change of profession was associated with young age, positive patch test, low educational level and severity of hand eczema/contact urticaria. With regard to specific professions, cleaning personnel changed profession significantly more often than other workers [71.4% (OR = 2.26)], health care workers significantly less often than other workers [34.0% (OR = 0.36)].

CONCLUSION: Job change occurs frequently during the first years after recognition of occupational hand eczema/contact urticaria and more often among patients with positive patch test reactions, with severe hand eczema/contact urticaria. Whether job changes improve the prognosis of occupational hand eczema/contact urticaria remains to be established.

Original languageEnglish
JournalContact Dermatitis
Volume78
Issue number1
Pages (from-to)55-63
Number of pages9
ISSN0105-1873
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2018

    Research areas

  • Adolescent, Adult, Age Factors, Career Choice, Denmark, Dermatitis, Allergic Contact/diagnosis, Dermatitis, Occupational/diagnosis, Educational Status, Female, Hand Dermatoses/diagnosis, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Occupations/statistics & numerical data, Patch Tests, Registries, Severity of Illness Index, Surveys and Questionnaires, Unemployment/statistics & numerical data, Urticaria/diagnosis, Young Adult

ID: 216513736