Occupational contact allergy of construction workers in Greece: Trends during 2009-2018.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Recent trends in the sensitization of construction workers show a decrease in potassium dichromate and an increase in epoxy resin sensitization.

OBJECTIVES:

To present the trends of occupational contact allergy of construction workers in Greece from 2009 to 2018.

METHODS:

We retrospectively reviewed the files of patients with eczema patch tested in our Contact Dermatitis Clinic who were construction workers.

RESULTS:

A total of 191 construction workers initially reported contact dermatitis. Of these, 138 had occupation-relevant allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) or irritant contact dermatitis (ICD). All patients were men. After being patch tested, 98 (71.0%) were diagnosed with ACD and 40 with ICD. Median duration of occupation till onset of ACD was 2 years (interquartile range [IQR] 0.8-7). The hands were the most common location for ACD (73.5%), followed by the trunk (39.8%), the legs (38.8%), and the face (11.2%). Of the patients, 74.6% had lesions affecting multiple body sites. Potassium dichromate (67%) was the most frequent allergen, followed by thiuram mix (37.4%) and cobalt chloride (31.8%). Sensitization to epoxy resins was lower (12.1%).

CONCLUSION:

The sensitization pattern of Greek construction workers does not follow the trends in Central or Northern Europe, rather sharing attributes with less industrialized countries.

• Authors: Stamatios Gregoriou, Periklis Anagnostou, Styliani Mastraftsi, Eftychia Platsidaki, Antonis Tsimpidakis, Eleni Chatzidimitriou, George Kontochristopoulos, Alexandros Katoulis, Electra Nicolaidou, Alexandros Stratigos, Dimitrios Rigopoulos
• Journal: Contact dermatitis (Contact Dermatitis) Vol. 86 Issue 1 Pg. 34-39 (Jan 2022) ISSN: 1600-0536 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 34510477 (Publication Type: Journal Article)
• Copyright: © 2021 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Topics

• Adult
• Construction Industry
• Dermatitis, Allergic Contact (diagnosis)
• Dermatitis, Atopic (epidemiology)
• Dermatitis, Irritant (epidemiology)
• Dermatitis, Occupational (diagnosis)
• Greece
• Humans
• Male
• Middle Aged
• Occupational Exposure (adverse effects, statistics & numerical data)
• Patch Tests (statistics & numerical data)
• Retrospective Studies