Contact allergy to polidocanol - results of the Information Network of Departments of Dermatology (IVDK)

Previous small studies indicated that polidocanol is a potentially relevant contact allergen in patients with chronic dermatitis. To assess the curren t prevalence of polidocanol contact sensitivity in a clinical patch test po pulation, and to analyse risk factors for this event, (i) descriptive analy ses of routine national surveillance data of the Information Network of Dep artments of Dermatology in Germany and Austria and (ii) a logistic regressi on analysis of potential risk factors (age, sex, occupational cause of derm atitis, site of current dermatitis) were performed. The two different test preparations of polidocanol used, 0.5% in water and 3.0% in petrolatum, yie lded 1.3 and 2.1% positive reactions in the 3186 and 6202 patients tested, respectively. Concordance was moderate in those (n = 649) tested with both preparations (Cohen's simple kappa: 0.53). Multifactorial analysis revealed a significant association between contact allergy to polidocanol and "age 40 and above" and "lower leg dermatitis", respectively. In conclusion, poli docanol has to be added to the list of topicals capable of inducing contact allergy in a substantial number of elderly patients with lower leg dermati tis and should indeed be tested regularly in patients with chronic dermatit is.