Contact dermatitis and workers' compensation: criteria for establishing occupational causation and aggravation

Contact dermatitis is the most common form of occupationally acquired skin disease. Eligibility for coverage under the workers' compensation laws of all states requires only reasonable probability that dermatitis directly resulted from, or was aggravated by, employment. The responsibility for this determination ultimately resides with the examining physician, who must critically evaluate the medical history and cutaneous findings. This article proposes seven objective criteria that may be used to assess the probability of a causal relationship with employment.