PREVALENCE AND INCIDENCE OF HAND DERMATITIS IN HAIRDRESSING APPRENTICES - RESULTS OF THE POSH STUDY

Objective: Occupational skin changes in hairdressers are very common. Morbidity, however, has not yet been quantified precisely. Methods: A cohort of 2,352 hairdressing apprentices (of the 2,570 invited to part icipate, i.e., 91.5% response) was prospectively followed for the dura tion of their vocational training (3 years) by three examinations. Thr ee waves (years) were recruited in 1992, 1993, and 1994 from 15 vocati onal training schools in northwestern Germany. Results: The point prev alence of (mostly slight) irritant skin changes of the hands increased from 35.4% in the initial examination to 47.5% in the intermediate ex amination and to 55.1% in the final examination. Given a more conserva tive definition of a case of ''hand dermatitis,'' these estimates were 12.9%, 23.5%, and 23.9%, respectively. Altogether, 34.3 and 15.2 case s of ''skin changes (any degree)'' and ''hand dermatitis,'' respective ly, in 100 person-years were observed during the study period. The inc idence rate, i.e., the number of newly diseased study participants in relation to the person-time at risk contributed, decreased in the cour se of the study. The proportion of dropouts until final follow-up was 51.8%. Conclusion: The present results appear to lie in a range with t hose found in other, much smaller cohort studies. However, comparison of the results is hampered either by the lack of a clear definition or by a different definition of ''person-time at risk'' or ''a case of h and dermatitis.'' As compared with an external control group of office apprentices, the incidence was several times higher in hairdressing a pprentices, which points to the high risk for skill damage in this occ upation.