Prevalence of hand eczema in an industrial city

The occurrence of hand eczema in an industrial city was studied. Questionnaires were sent to 20,000 individuals aged 20-65 years, randomly selected from the population register of the city. After two reminders, a response rate of 83% was obtained. Analysis of the drop-outs did not indicate that the presence of hand eczema was an important selection factor for response to the questionnaire. Those subjects considering themselves to have had hand eczema within the previous 12 months were invited to a dermatological examination to verify the diagnosis and for further investigation. Seventy-one per cent accepted the invitation. Analysis of drop-outs showed that willingness to attend the dermatological examination was to some extent dependent on the severity of the hand eczema. It was found that almost 11% considered themselves to have had hand eczema at some time during the previous 12-month period; approximately two thirds were women. Five point four per cent had had hand eczema at a particular point in time (prevalence) and 2% had had continuous problems with hand eczema during the previous year.