Applicability of the Nordic Occupational Skin Questionnaire for Screening Contact Dermatological Disorders in Sea Fishers.

Piero Lovreglio,Fabrizio Guarneri,Paolo Romita,Rossana Rotondi,Patrizia Chiarappa,Antonella Basso,Ignazio Drago,Leonardo Soleo,Caterina Foti

doi:10.3390/ijerph15020381

Abstract

This survey aimed to evaluate the applicability of the Nordic Occupational Skin Questionnaire (NOSQ) as a preliminary screening tool to investigate the presence of contact dermatological disorders in sea fishermen. The Italian version of the NOSQ was administered to 143 male fishermen working at an Apulia (Southern Italy) Fisheries, and 136 male workers who had never worked as sea fishers (controls). A significantly higher rate of frequency of transient itchy wheals on the hands, wrists, and forearms was recorded in the fishermen as compared to the controls (49.6% vs. 8.1%; p < 0.001), while there was no significant difference in the frequency of eczema (8.4% vs. 6.6%). In 46.1% of the fishermen, the onset of transient itchy wheals was associated with contact with specific agents and the most common causes were algae and aquatic plants (49.3%) and seabed sludge (25.3%). In conclusion, the administration of the NOSQ can be useful in preliminary screening for dermatitis in fishermen, although it could show a possible overestimation of the prevalence of transient itchy wheals.

Highlights

Occupational skin disorders are among the most common occupational diseases worldwide, and are often caused by contact with specific agents present in workplaces
Considering the results obtained, and the high percentage of controls who referred to the onset of transient itchy wheals as compared to the expected prevalence of urticaria in the general population with no occupational exposure to specific causes, the Nordic Occupational Skin Questionnaire (NOSQ) seems to have a tendency to induce an overestimation of the presence of these lesions [10]
The questionnaire results did not show a clear causal or protective role of the use of gloves during the working activities. This survey reports the first experience of employment of the NOSQ to study the prevalence of some occupational contact dermatological disorders in a population of sea fishermen

Summary

Introduction

Occupational skin disorders are among the most common occupational diseases worldwide, and are often caused by contact with specific agents present in workplaces. To evaluate the prevalence of occupational contact dermatitis, as well as in the health surveillance of the onset of such forms, it would be useful to be able to rely on simple tools for preliminary data collection both at individual and at occupational group level. This was the rationale for the development, in 2002, of the Nordic Occupational Skin Questionnaire (NOSQ), a standardized, reproducible questionnaire

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion