Hand eczema in patients with history of atopic manifestations in childhood.
A follow-up study of two groups of individuals aged 24-44 years, with a history of severe and moderate atopic dermatitis in childhood (n = 549 and 406 respectively), showed that the most common site of atopic dermatitis was the hands. The prevalence of hand eczema in the two groups was 41% and 25% respectively. The corresponding figure for a group of 222 individuals with respiratory allergy, but not atopic dermatitis in childhood, was 5%, and for a control group (n = 199), without family or personal atopy, 4%. In all four groups the majority of the patients had mild to moderate hand eczema. The fingers were the most common site in all groups. In 69%, 55%, 36% and 12% respectively, hand eczema was found simultaneously with other eczematous manifestations. Irritants were considered by 71-96% in the four groups to aggravate the hand eczema. Contact with various food substances, particularly proteins, was regarded by 38%, 43%, 30% and 9% as an eliciting/aggravating factor. Dust was looked upon as an eliciting/aggravating factor by 25% and 20% of the individuals in the two groups with atopic dermatitis in childhood, but by no one in the control group.
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D000328:Adult; D001249:Asthma / Q000150:complications; D002648:Child; D003876:Dermatitis, Atopic / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D003877:Dermatitis, Contact / Q000150:complications; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006225:Hand; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012220:Rhinitis / Q000150:complications; D013548:Sweden