Health care workers (HCW) have been shown to be at significant risk for dev
eloping latex allergy. Natural rubber latex hypersensitivity has been repor
ted in 2.9 to 17% of health care workers in previously published studies. T
his study describes the prevalence of latex hypersensitivity in a large coh
ort of medical center employees. A screening questionnaire was distributed
to 1967 employees in six job categories exposed to Eater, and 1331 question
naires were returned (68%) between March and November 1995. Skin and serolo
gic testing was performed on 156 volunteers. Of the 1331 HCWs who completed
the screening questionnaire, 290 (21.8%) self-reported contact dermatitis
to latex, 67 (5.0%) self-reported urticaria to latex, 163 (12.2%) self-repo
rted rhinoconjunctivitis to latex, and 17 (2.3%) self-reported asthmatic sy
mptoms to Inter. Of the total population of 1967 employees, 38 (1.9%) were
either skin test or blood test positive and 30 (1.5%) of these 38 were symp
tomatic around latex. This study suggests a minimum prevalence of IgE-media
ted hypersensitivity to Inter of 1.5% among medical center employees. Our r
eported prevalence figures are lower than previously reported, reflecting,
in part, reporting methods using a denominator more consistent with the tot
al population at risk. Our study also illustrates the pitfall of relying on
self-reporting in making the diagnosis of latex allergy.