Occupational hand eczema and/or contact urticaria: factors associated with change of profession or not remaining in the workforce
Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › peer-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 language | English |
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Journal | Contact Dermatitis |
Volume | 78 |
Issue number | 1 |
Pages (from-to) | 55-63 |
Number of pages | 9 |
ISSN | 0105-1873 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2018 |
- 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
Research areas
ID: 216513736