The European baseline series in 10 European Countries, 2005/2006--results of the European Surveillance System on Contact Allergies (ESSCA).
BACKGROUND
Continual surveillance based on patch test results has proved useful for the identification of contact allergy.


OBJECTIVE
To provide a current view on the spectrum of contact allergy to important sensitizers across Europe.


METHODS
Clinical and patch test data of 19 793 patients patch tested in 2005/2006 in the 31 participating departments from 10 European countries (the European Surveillance System on Contact Allergies' (ESSCA) www.essca-dc.org) were descriptively analysed, aggregated to four European regions.


RESULTS
Nickel sulfate remains the most common allergen with standardized prevalences ranging from 19.7% (central Europe) to 24.4% (southern Europe). While a number of allergens shows limited variation across the four regions, such as Myroxylon pereirae (5.3-6.8%), cobalt chloride (6.2-8.8%) or thiuram mix (1.7-2.4%), the differences observed with other allergens may hint on underlying differences in exposures, for example: dichromate 2.4% in the UK (west) versus 4.5-5.9% in the remaining EU regions, methylchloroisothiazolinone/methylisothiazolinone 4.1% in the South versus 2.1-2.7% in the remaining regions.


CONCLUSIONS
Notwithstanding residual methodological variation (affecting at least some 'difficult' allergens) tackled by ongoing efforts for standardization, a comparative analysis as presented provides (i) a broad overview on contact allergy frequencies and (ii) interesting starting points for further, in-depth investigation.
Uter
Wolfgang
W
Dept of Med Informatics, Biometry & Epidemiology, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, Erlangen, Germany. wolfgang.uter@imbe.med.uni-erlangen.de
Rämsch
Christiane
C
Aberer
Werner
W
Ayala
Fabio
F
Balato
Anna
A
Beliauskiene
Aiste
A
Fortina
Anna Belloni
AB
Bircher
Andreas
A
Brasch
Jochen
J
Chowdhury
Mahbub M U
MM
Coenraads
Pieter-Jan
PJ
Schuttelaar
Marie-Louise
ML
Cooper
Sue
S
Corradin
Maria Teresa
MT
Elsner
Peter
P
English
John S C
JS
Fartasch
Manigè
M
Mahler
Vera
V
Frosch
Peter J
PJ
Fuchs
Thomas
T
Gawkrodger
David J
DJ
Gimènez-Arnau
Ana-Maria
AM
Green
Cathy M
CM
Horne
Helen L
HL
Jolanki
Riitta
R
King
Codagh M
CM
Krêcisz
Beata
B
Kiec-Swierczynska
Marta
M
Ormerod
Anthony D
AD
Orton
David I
DI
Peserico
Andrea
A
Rantanen
Tapio
T
Rustemeyer
Thomas
T
Sansom
Jane E
JE
Simon
Dagmar
D
Statham
Barry N
BN
Wilkinson
Mark
M
Schnuch
Axel
A
D000328:Adult; D000485:Allergens; D017449:Dermatitis, Allergic Contact / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D003876:Dermatitis, Atopic / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D009783:Dermatitis, Occupational / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D005060:Europe / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011159:Population Surveillance; D015995:Prevalence
D000485:Allergens