Risk of hand dermatitis among hairdressers versus office workers

Objectives The risk of irritant skin damage associated with hairdressing wa s estimated with the individual occupational exposure and other relevant fa ctors having been taken into consideration. Methods A cohort of 2352 hairdressing and 111 office apprentices was prospe ctively followed for the duration of their vocational training (3 years), 3 examinations having been made and 3 years of recruitment having been used [1992 (hairdressers only), 1993, 1994] in Lj vocational training schools in northwest Germany. The information of the final follow-up examination war used for the analysis. Results A multifactorial analysis taking several (constitutional) risk fact ors, which were unevenly distributed between the 2 groups, into account rev ealed a significantly increased risk for hairdressers when compared with of fice workers (odds ratio approximately 4.0) with a marked decline in the mo st recently recruited (1994) apprentice group. Other significant factors in creasing the dermatitis risk were (i) low ambient absolute humidity, (ii) y oung age, and (iii) a certain higher range of "atopy score". If the individ ual profile of occupational exposure among hairdressers was also considered , unprotected wet work of more than 2 hours per day was found to be a signi ficant risk factor. Conclusions Good skin protection, as operationalized in the present study, can diminish, but not eliminate, the risk of occupational irritant hand der matitis among hairdressers.