Analysis of Prevalence and Risk Factors of Contact Sensitization with respect to the Occupational Profiles in a Greek Patient Cohort: A Retrospective Analysis of a Greek Referral Centre and Future Perspectives

Abstract

Contact dermatitis is a frequent skin disorder related to environmental and occupational etiological factors, which could potentially affect all age groups, as well as both genders. The current study is aimed at exploring the patterns of contact sensitization with respect to the population's occupational patterns in Greece. A retrospective analysis was performed in a cohort of 1978 patients from 2014 to 2016. Patients were divided into two categories; blue collars (BlC) and white collars (WhC), as well as detailed occupation was considered. Separation was performed on the basis of their profession, i.e., labor workers and handicraftsmen were sorted to the BlC group, while office employees were sorted to the WhC group. The common allergen in all occupational subgroups was nickel sulphate. The three most prevalent allergens in both BlC and WhC were nickel sulphate 5%, fragrance mix (I) 8%, and Balsam of Peru 25%. WhC males were uniquely sensitized to colophony 20% and formaldehyde 2%, and WhC females were uniquely sensitized to 5-chloro-2-methyl-4-isothiazolin-3-one (CMIT) and neomycin sulphate 20%. Sensitization to allergens manifested occupation-specific patterns. Allergic contact dermatitis surveillance is of great importance towards the clinical and systematic understanding of the disease, especially with respect to the patient's occupational profile.

Figure 1

Age and number of total positive allergens with respect to gender and occupation. Significant differences were observed between female WhC (p = 0.0001) and male WhC (a). Also, a significant difference was observed between female WhC (p = 0.0002) and female BlC (a). Further on, we have estimated the total number of allergens in each subgroup. In that case, a significant difference was observed between female WhC and female BlC (p ≤ 0.001) (b). (Legend: WhC: white collars; BlC: blue collars; I: female white collars; II: male white collars; III: female blue collars; IV: male blue collars).