Patch Testing in Children and Adolescents With Suspected Allergic Contact Dermatitis

Surekha Meena1, Taru Garg2, Ram Chander1

  • 1Department of Dermatology, Lady Hardinge Medical College and Associated Hospitals, New Delhi, India.

Skinmed
|October 28, 2016
PubMed

Insights

Allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) in children is often caused by nickel sulfate. Patch testing is crucial for diagnosis, with higher relevance in younger children, indicating age shouldn't prevent testing.

Area of Science:

  • Dermatology
  • Pediatric Allergy

Background:

  • Allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) is a prevalent condition in children.
  • Patch testing is the gold standard for identifying contact allergens in suspected ACD cases.
  • Current data on common allergens in pediatric ACD is limited.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To identify common allergens responsible for ACD in children and adolescents.
  • To evaluate the clinical relevance of patch test results in this age group.

Main Methods:

  • Patch testing was performed using the Indian Standard Series.
  • Additional allergens were included based on patient history.
  • Seventy-four pediatric patients with suspected ACD were recruited; 70 were analyzed.

Main Results:

  • Over half of the patients (54.3%) showed one or more positive patch test reactions.
  • Nickel sulfate was the most frequently identified allergen.
  • Clinically relevant reactions were observed in 78.94% of positive cases.
  • Positive patch test relevance was significantly higher in younger children (3-9 years) than adolescents (10-19 years) (P=.030).

Conclusions:

  • ACD is a significant health issue impacting children's quality of life.
  • Patch testing is effective in diagnosing ACD in children and adolescents.
  • Age should not be a barrier to performing patch testing for ACD diagnosis.

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