Prevalance of hand eczema among health care workers in Pamukkale University health, research and training center

Abstract

In this study, we aimed to research the prevalence of hand eczema and risk factors among health care workers in Pamukkale University Health, Research and Training Center. Two thousand and thirtysix healthcare workers including doctors, nurses, technicians, dentists, cleaning staff and other professions were enrolled. A questionnaire with 16 questions adresing working hours in a day, eczema symptoms, the frequency of use of surgical gloves, personal and family history of atopy was applied. According to the answers given to the questions it was detected that 64 workers had hand eczema. The prevalence of hand eczema was detected as 27.1% in Pamukkale University Health, Research and Training Center. We determined that hand eczema was more common in women (78.1%) than in men, and among the profession groups, nurses (%45.8; p<0.001) were more frequently affected than the other groups. We found that 43 (%67.2) health care workers with hand eczema and 38 (22.1%) without hand eczema had a history of atopy (p<0.001). We determined that symptoms of hand eczema worsened as workers exposed to latex gloves, soap, batticon and local anesthetics. Furthermore, it was noted that 59 (92.2%) patients with hand eczema, had less complains about their illness when they were away from their job, whereas 31 (48.4%) had difficulties in their daily and working life, and 4 patients (6.3%) had to take a day off because of their illness. Hand dermatitis causes occupational morbidity and missed workdays leading difficulties in working life. Nurses are more frequently affected than other professions, moreover female gender and atopy appears to be the two important risk factors.