Clinical Features and Awareness of Hand Eczema in Korea.
BACKGROUND
Hand eczema is one of the most common skin disorders and negatively affects quality of life. However, a large-scale multicenter study investigating the clinical features of patients with hand eczema has not yet been conducted in Korea.


OBJECTIVE
To identify the prevalence of various hand diseases, which is defined as all cutaneous disease occurring in hands, and to investigate the clinical features of patients with hand eczema and the awareness about hand eczema in the general population and to compare the prevalence of hand eczema between health care providers and non-health care providers.


METHODS
To estimate the prevalence of hand diseases, we analyzed the medical records of patients from 24 medical centers. Patients were assessed by online and offline questionnaires. A 1,000 from general population and 913 hand eczema patients answered the questionnaire, for a total of 1,913 subjects.


RESULTS
The most common hand disease was irritant contact dermatitis. In an online survey, the lifetime prevalence of hand eczema was 31.2%. Hand eczema was more likely to occur in females (66.0%) and younger (20~39 years, 53.9%). Health care providers and housewives were the occupations most frequently associated with hand eczema. Winter (33.6%) was the most common season which people experienced aggravation. The 63.0% and 67.0% answered that hand eczema hinders their personal relationship and negatively affects daily living activities, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
Hand eczema is a very common disease and hinders the quality of life. The appropriate identification of hand eczema is necessary to implement effective and efficient treatment.
Department of Dermatology, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Jae Beom
JB
Park
Department of Dermatology, Dongguk University Ilsan Hospital, Goyang, Korea.
Seung Ho
SH
Lee
Department of Dermatology, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Kea Jeung
KJ
Kim
Department of Dermatology, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Ga-Young
GY
Lee
Department of Dermatology, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Jun-Mo
JM
Yang
Department of Dermatology, Kyungpook National University School of Medicine, Daegu, Korea.
Do Won
do W
Kim
Department of Dermatology, Kyungpook National University School of Medicine, Daegu, Korea.
Seok Jong
SJ
Lee
Department of Dermatology, Hallym University College of Medicine, Chuncheon, Korea.
Cheol Heon
CH
Lee
Department of Dermatology, Hallym University College of Medicine, Chuncheon, Korea.
Eun Joo
EJ
Park
Department of Dermatology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Kyu Han
KH
Kim
Department of Dermatology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Hee Chul
HC
Eun
Department of Dermatology, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Sung Eun
SE
Chang
Department of Dermatology, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Kee Chan
KC
Moon
Department of Dermatology, Ilsan Paik Hospital, Inje University College of Medicine, Goyang, Korea.
Seong Hyun
SH
Kim
Department of Dermatology, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Korea.
Seong Jin
SJ
Kim
Department of Dermatology, Pusan National University Hospital, Busan, Korea.
Byung-Soo
BS
Kim
Department of Dermatology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea.
Jun Young
JY
Lee
Department of Dermatology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea.
Hyung-Ok
HO
Kim
Department of Dermatology, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea.
Hoon
H
Kang
Department of Dermatology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Min Geol
MG
Lee
Department of Dermatology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Soo-Chan
SC
Kim
Department of Dermatology, Hanyang University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Young Suck
YS
Ro
Department of Dermatology, Hanyang University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Joo Yeon
JY
Ko
Department of Dermatology, National Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.
Mi Youn
MY
Park
Department of Dermatology, Dankook University Medical College, Cheonan, Korea.
Myung Hwa
MH
Kim
Department of Dermatology, Inha University School of Medicine, Incheon, Korea.
Jeong Hyun
JH
Shin
Department of Dermatology, Ewha Womans University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Hae Young
HY
Choi
Department of Dermatology, Chung-Ang University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Chang Kwun
CK
Hong
Department of Dermatology, Soonchunhyang University College of Medicine, Cheonan, Korea.
Sung Yul
SY
Lee
Department of Dermatology, Hana Clininc, Seoul, Korea.
Hana
H
Bak
Department of Dermatology, Korea University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Sang Wook
SW
Son
Department of Dermatology, Dongguk University Ilsan Hospital, Goyang, Korea.
Ai Young
AY
Lee
Awareness; Clinical feature; Hand eczema; Multicenter study; Surveys and questionnaires