title: Prevalence of adverse reactions to latex gloves in Korean operating room nurses.
abstract: This study was conducted to determine the prevalence rate of adverse reactions to latex gloves. Among hospital personnel working in operating rooms, 41.4% reported adverse reactions to latex. Especially among OR nurses, the prevalence rate of adverse reactions was 80.3%, and that of latex allergy was 9.8%. Common symptoms were rash, skin itching, dizziness, and eye itching. Atopics had more latex allergy than the non-atopics. There was no difference in the incidence rate of latex allergy among the five gloves by the prick test. But with the exposure test, ordinary gloves had a higher latex allergy incidence than hypoallergenic gloves.
authors.affiliation: jee-in.hwang@dmi.columbia.edu
authors.forename: Jee-In
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.forename: Hyeoun-Ae
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005932:Gloves, Surgical / Q000009:adverse effects*; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D020315:Latex Hypersensitivity / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009871:Operating Room Nursing; D015995:Prevalence; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires