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Screening occupational contact allergy to bisphenol F epoxy resin
Kristiina Aalto-Korte1, Katri Suuronen, Outi Kuuliala
1Occupational Medicine, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FIOH), 00250 Helsinki, Finland.
Background:
Epoxy resins based on diglycidyl ether of bisphenol F (DGEBF) are widely used as such in applications requiring chemical resistance, and also together with diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A resin (DGEBA-R). Concomitant patch test reactions to DGEBA-R and DGEBF resin (DGEBF-R) are common. Previous studies have yielded conflicting results on the frequency of independent DGEBF-R contact allergies.
Objectives:
To report the results of over 11 years of screening with DGEBF-R.
Methods:
An in-house test substance of DGEBF-R (Epikote 862) was tested in the baseline patch test series, first at 1% and later at 0.25%. Test files were screened for allergic reactions to DGEBF-R and DGEBA-R, and the clinical records of positively reacting patients were analysed for occupation and exposure.
Results:
Among 1972 patients, 66 (3.3%) reacted to DGEBF-R and 96 (4.9%) to DGEBA-R. Independent DGEBF-R allergies were seen in 5 patients only, and independent DGEBA-R allergies in 35. Specific exposure to DGEBF-R was found in 26 patients. The main occupational fields were the aircraft industry, the electrical and sports equipment industry, boat building, painting/floor coating, tile setting, and pipe relining.
Conclusions:
Independent contact allergies to DGEBF-R were rare, and screening with it was not found to be useful.
