title: Aquagenic pruritus: prevalence and clinical characteristics.
abstract: We conducted a study of the prevalence and clinical characteristics of aquagenic pruritus (AP) in 996 employees at a general hospital. Forty-five of them claimed that they had AP, thus giving a reported prevalence of 4.5%; 12 were excluded for various reasons and a detailed workup was carried out in 33 people. In more than 75% of the cases AP had started before age 30 and lasted for over 10 years in 42%. The onset of AP occurred within 5 min of exposure in 76% of the cases and usually lasted between 10 and 30 min. In most cases no association could be demonstrated between AP and each of the following factors: place, season, time of day, water temperature, type of soap, towelling or mental stress. AP in at least one other family member was found in 33% of the cases.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Bnai Zion Medical Center (Rothschild), Haifa, Israel.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Potasman
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Heinrich
authors.forename: H M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Bassan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001494:Baths; D002648:Child; D003877:Dermatitis, Contact / Q000209:etiology*; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010375:Pedigree; D011537:Pruritus / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000235:genetics; D012915:Soaps; D014867:Water
chemical_list: D012915:Soaps; D014867:Water