Prevalence of skin diseases in a cohort of 48,665 employees in Germany

Abstract

Background: Epidemiological data are important for planning medical care. Thus far, only few prevalence data for skin diseases have been published in Germany, most of them not population based.

Objectives: Estimation of prevalences of common skin diseases in a sample of employees of German companies.

Methods: Whole-body examinations were performed by trained dermatologists in 150 companies as part of skin cancer screenings. Using a standardized and computerized data entry, all clinical dermatological findings were documented. Explicitly skin lesions requiring current treatment were noted. The retrospective evaluation of the data was descriptive, using the diagnoses defined a priori in the data entry mask.

Results: 48,665 persons (52.8% male) with a mean age of 43.2 years were examined. The following frequencies of chronic and acute inflammatory skin diseases were observed: contact eczema 8.9%, acne 4.2%, seborrhoeic eczema 3.4%, rosacea 2.2%, psoriasis vulgaris 2.1%, atopic eczema 1.4% and lichen ruber 0.07%. In total, dermatological findings needing treatment were observed in 19% of the study cohort; 1.3% of the participants presented a suspicious finding requiring diagnostics for skin malignoma.

Conclusions: There is a high frequency of chronic inflammatory skin diseases in the general working population and a high need for dermatological treatment.