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. 2020 Nov 18;7(6):527-533.
doi: 10.14744/nci.2020.45722. eCollection 2020.

An overlooked risk for healthcare workers amid COVID-19: Occupational hand eczema

Velat Celik  1 , Mehmet Yasar Ozkars  2
Affiliations

An overlooked risk for healthcare workers amid COVID-19: Occupational hand eczema

Velat Celik et al. North Clin Istanb. .

Abstract

Objective: Hand hygiene, one of the most critical preventive methods against Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) cross-transmission, has increased during the COVID-19 outbreak. The present study aims to investigate the prevalence and risk factors of hand eczema (HE) and associated symptoms in healthcare workers (HCWs) during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Methods: We distributed a self-administered online survey to physicians and nurses in Kahramanmaras, Turkey. The survey included questions about HE-associated symptoms and risk factors before and during the pandemic.

Results: Five hundred sixty-four individuals (349 physicians and 215 nurses) answered the survey. Post-COVID-19, the prevalence of HE increased from 6.6% to 11.7% and the prevalence of HE-associated symptoms increased from 39.5% to 79.3%. Female gender (odds ratio [OR]: 3.92; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.12-7.25), a history of atopic diseases (OR: 1.7; 95% CI: 1.03-2.8), more frequent handwashing (OR: 1.03; 95% CI: 1.01-1.05), and more frequent use of moisturizers (OR: 1.12; 95% CI: 1.01-1.24) were independently associated with the risk of HE-associated symptoms.

Conclusion: Because of increased handwashing during the COVID-19 outbreak, there is a significant increase in HE-associated symptoms in HCWs. Proper education and preventive strategies for HE are urgently needed for HCWs fighting on the front lines of COVID-19.

Keywords: COVID-19; hand eczema; healthcare workers.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: No conflict of interest was declared by the authors.

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