[Dermatopathies in the domestic worker: the Lombard experience]

In order to identify the etiopathogenesis of cutaneous diseases in housewives, a questionnaire was made, and the gathered data are here described. 1,824 people have answered this questionnaire: 1,007 have reported lesions with a suspicious immunological pathogenesis. The commercial products which were reported as a cause of the dermatitis have been 834. In a group of 142 housewives (86 with allergic contact dermatitis and 56 with irritative contact dermatitis), the allergic sensitizations to the chemicals in the detergents were tested. 21% of the cases had positive cutaneous reactions for nickel salts and 8.4% for chromium salts. The analysis in atomic absorption method of these metals in 34 commercial products has shown their presence in almost all the samples. Hypothesis are formulated to find the source of these polluting substances. The aims and the methods of a investigation carried out on 1.800 housewives, who are going to be controlled in order to estimate the prevalence, the clinical kinds and the etiopathogenesis of dermatitis related to house work, are described. The study will be carried out at the Occupational Health Institute "Clinica del Lavoro L. Devoto" of Milan and at the Dermatological Departments of the Universities of Bari and Florence.