Diagnosis of occupational dermatitis by general practitioners and employment medical advisors: a pilot study

This pilot study examined how closely general practitioners and employment medical advisors agreed when jointly investigating occupational dermatitis. The criterion for admitting a patient to the study was dermatitis on one or both hands. This presented most commonly among men aged 41-60 years and women aged 21-40 years. There was some reluctance among general practitioners to take part in the study, probably owing to the medico-legal problems associated with this condition. General practitioners and employment medical advisors were equally likely to attribute a case of dermatitis to occupational factors if the patient was employed in industry; but if the patient was in nonindustrial employment, general practitioners were more likely to consider the possibility of an occupational origin than employment medical advisors. These differences suggest that before initiating a wider study more information is required concerning the trigger mechanisms for dermatitis on the hands in order to reduce the diagnostic variability.