Occupational Contact Dermatitis. In: Johansen JD, Frosch PJ, Lepoittevin J, editors. Contact Dermatitis. Berlin: Springer Berlin Heidelberg; 2011. pp. 831-9. [DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-03827-3_42]

The Relationship between Endogenous Factors and Contact Dermatitis on Electroplating Workers in Durungbanjar

Introduction: Occupational contact dermatitis can be interpreted as a health problem on the skin caused by exogenous and endogenous factors related to work. Electroplating is one of high-risk jobs that caused occupational contact dermatitis because of direct contact with chemicals during working. In addition, contact dermatitis is also affected by individual factors of each worker. This research purpose was to identify the relationship among endogenous factors and the occupational contact dermatitis case in metal coating workers in home industry. Method: The research design used was observational with a cross sectional approach. The total population was used as the sampling technique in this study with a total of 28 workers from two metal coating industries in Durungbanjar Village consisting 13 workers from CV. M and 15 workers from CV. N. The data were obtained from the survey, sighting, and medical record notes. Variables from the study included age, working period, history of illness, and personal hygiene. The data were processed using the coefficient contingency test. Result: There were 64.3% of electroplating workers experienced contact dermatitis. The age aspect has a weak relationship (c = 0.295), the working period element has a weak relationship (c = 0.298), the disease history factor has a weak relationship (c = 0.352) and the individual hygiene factor has a strong relationship (c = 0.547). Conclusion: The endogenous factors including age, working period, history of disease, and personal hygiene affect contact dermatitis case. There is a strong relationship between personal hygiene and contact dermatitis cases in metal coating workers. The worse personal hygiene of the workers, the higher risk of workers experiencing contact dermatitis. Age, working period, and history of disease had weak relationship with contact dermatitis case.Keywords: contact dermatitis, endogenous factors, metal coatings

Is skin exposure to water mainly occupational or nonoccupational? A population-based study

BACKGROUND

Skin exposure to water is considered to contribute to hand eczema. Knowledge about total water exposure during a day is scanty.

OBJECTIVES

To investigate self-reported water exposure at work as well as throughout the day.

METHODS

Skin exposure to water was assessed from two questionnaire-based health surveys: the nationwide Environmental Health Survey 2007 (EHS), which enquired about water exposure throughout the day, and the Stockholm Public Health Survey 2006 (PHS), which probed water exposure at work. Answers from 19,667 individuals (EHS) and 18,318 individuals (PHS) were available for analysis.

RESULTS

In total, 22% of respondents (women 30%, men 12%) reported skin exposure to water more than 20 times during an entire day (EHS) compared with 6% (women 8%, men 4%) at work (PHS). In a univariate analysis, using a merged file comprising data from the EHS and the PHS, water exposure more than 20 times a day was more common in the EHS (prevalence proportion ratio 3·570, 95% confidence interval 3·353-3·802). In multivariate models the variables studied did not fulfil the criteria for being confounders. Water exposure at work declined with increasing age in both women and men (P < 0·0001) as did water exposure during the entire day in men (P < 0·0001). However, women were equally exposed during the entire day across age groups (P = 0·205).

CONCLUSIONS

High water exposure over the entire day was found to be considerably more frequent than exposure at work. Thus, a significant proportion of water exposure seems to occur outside work. This should be considered in prevention of hand eczema and when counselling patients with hand eczema in clinical practice.