title: Lifestyle and nickel allergy in a Swedish adolescent population: effects of piercing, tattooing and orthodontic appliances.
abstract: The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of life-style practices in adolescents and their association with nickel allergy. Upper secondary school pupils (n = 4,376; 15-23 years) were patch-tested for nickel aller-gy, follow-ing completion of a questionnaire (answered by 6,095). Almost 86% girls and 21% of boys reported piercing. More girls (6%) than boys (3%) had a tattoo. Twenty-six percent of the girls and 18% of the boys were regular smokers. Vegetarian/vegan diets were reported by 20% of girls and by 6% of boys. Piercing, female gender, and vocational programme increased the risk of nickel allergy, whereas orthodontic appliance treat-ment prior to piercing reduced the risk of nickel allergy. Pupils in vocational programmes had the highest prevalence of nickel allergy. Lifestyle behaviours are interconnected and cluster in subgroups of adolescents. Female sex, piercing and choice of educational programme are prominent lifestyle markers. A trend shift is observed, where more girls than boys report tattooing.
authors.affiliation: Department of Odontology, Orthodontics, Umeå University, SE-90185 Umeå, Sweden. ronny.fors@odont.umu.se
authors.forename: Ronny
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fors
authors.forename: Maurits
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Persson
authors.forename: Erik
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bergström
authors.forename: Hans
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Stenlund
authors.forename: Birgitta
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Stymne
authors.forename: Berndt
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Stenberg
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D000367:Age Factors; D046288:Body Piercing / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000639:trends; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D014676:Diet, Vegetarian; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006967:Hypersensitivity / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D008019:Life Style; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009532:Nickel / Q000009:adverse effects*; D016017:Odds Ratio; D009967:Orthodontic Appliances / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000639:trends; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D012882:Skin Tests; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology; D013653:Tattooing / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000639:trends; D014829:Vocational Education; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D009532:Nickel