12-year data on dermatologic cases in the Finnish Register of Occupational Diseases I: Distribution of different diagnoses and main causes of allergic contact dermatitis.

Abstract

Skin diseases are among the most common occupational diseases, but detailed analyses on their epidemiology, diagnoses, and causes are relatively scarce. To analyze data on skin disease in the Finnish Register of Occupational Diseases (FROD) for (1) different diagnoses and (2) main causes of allergic contact dermatitis (ACD). We retrieved data on recognized cases with occupational skin disease (OSD) in the FROD from a 12-year-period 2005-2016 and used national official labor force data of the year 2012. We analyzed a total of 5265 cases, of which 42% had irritant contact dermatitis (ICD), 35% ACD, 11% contact urticaria/protein contact dermatitis (CU/PCD), and 9% skin infections. The incidence rate of OSD in the total labor force was 18.8 cases/100 000 person years. Skin infections concerned mainly scabies in health care personnel. Twenty-nine per cent of the ACD cases were caused by plastics/resins-related allergens, mainly epoxy chemicals. Other important causes for ACD were rubber, preservatives, metals, acrylates, and hairdressing chemicals. Cases of occupational ACD due to isothiazolinones reached a peak in 2014. Our analysis confirms that epoxy products are gaining importance as causes of OSD and the isothiazolinone contact allergy epidemic has started to wane.