Relationship between Hand Eczema Severity and Occupational Stress: A Cross-Sectional Study

Stress has been recently implicated as a contributing factor of hand eczema (HE) severity. However, published data are both rare and contradictory justifying the need of further research. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relation between stress and HE severity.

This is a cross-sectional study enrolling all patients who have been attending the Dermato-allergology unit of Farhat Hached University Hospital of Sousse over a period of one year. The HE severity was assessed by the Osnabrück Hand Eczema Severity Index (OHSI). The stress level was assessed by the Perceived Stress Scale-10 (PSS-10) in its validated Arabic version.

During the study period, 109 participants meeting the inclusion criteria were identified. The mean age was 40 ± 9.9 years with a sex-ratio of 0.8. Severe eczema was found in 76 participants (69.7%). A high level of perceived stress was found in 18.3% of cases. A statistically significant association was noted between HE severity and the high level of perceived stress (p=0.039, OR = 4.46, 95% CI [0.96-20.59]) and the number of dependent children ≥3 (p=0.0039, OR = 1.92, 95% CI [0.51-7.22]). Leisure activity was found to be a protective factor against HE severity (p=0.031, OR = 0.27, 95% CI [0.09-0.80]).

Although the link between the severity of eczema and atopy, wet work, and contact with irritants and allergens is well known, the relation remains questionable for other factors including stress.