Journal article
Occupational skin disease among Australian healthcare workers: a retrospective analysis from an occupational dermatology clinic, 1993-2014
Claire L Higgins, Amanda M Palmer, Jennifer L Cahill, Rosemary L Nixon
CONTACT DERMATITIS | WILEY | Published : 2016
DOI: 10.1111/cod.12616
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Healthcare workers (HCWs) are at risk of developing occupational skin disease (OSD). OBJECTIVES: To ascertain the causes of OSD in Australian HCWs in a tertiary referral clinic. METHODS: A retrospective review was performed of patients assessed at the Occupational Dermatology Clinic in Melbourne from 1993 to 2014. RESULTS: Of 685 HCWs assessed in the clinic over a period of 22 years, 555 (81.0%) were diagnosed with OSD. The most common diagnosis was irritant contact dermatitis (ICD) (79.1%), followed by allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) (49.7%). Natural rubber latex allergy was also relatively frequent (13.0%). The major substances causing ACD were rubber glove chemicals (thiuram..
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Funding Acknowledgements
C. L. Higgins wishes to acknowledge the Australasian College of Dermatologists and the Skin and Cancer Foundation Inc., Melbourne for receipt of the John Fewings Memorial Prize, awarded for the presentation of a summary of this work in the Contact Dermatitis Symposium, 48th Annual Scientific Meeting, Adelaide, May 2015. The authors thank Mr Mark Tacey, Biostatistician, University of Melbourne, for providing statistical advice.