Surveillance in occupational contact dermatitis

Abstract

Surveillance is the continuous analysis, interpretation, and feedback of systematically collected data either on an (inter)national level, or on the level of industrial plants. Occupational contact dermatitis does not separately appear in the general (national) statistics on occupational diseases and injuries; however, the proportion of occupational contact dermatitis among all occupational skin diseases is consistently estimated to be around 80%. Special registries, or special analyses of “routine” documentation systems generically including this data, enable the assessment of the spectrum of (occupational) contact allergens in different occupations. Clinical data on the frequency of irritant or allergic contact dermatitis, or on the prevalence of specific contact sensitization, cannot directly be interpreted as estimates of morbidity on the population level. Nevertheless, sufficiently standardized patient data are a valid basis of surveillance, addressing time trends (in subgroups) and risk factor assessment.