Valid screening questions useful to diagnose hand and forearm eczema are available in the Spanish language, a new tool for global research

Abstract

Hand eczema is an impacting cutaneous disease. Globally valid tools that help to diagnose hand and forearm eczema are required. Objective: To validate the questions to detect hand and/or forearm eczema included in the “Nordic Occupational Skin Questionnaire” (NOSQ-2002) in the Spanish language. Materials and methods: A prospective pilot study was conducted with 80 employees of a cleaning company and a retrospective one involving 2,546 individuals. The responses were analysed for sensitivity, specificity and positive and negative predictive values. The final diagnosis according to the patients’ hospital records, the specialty care records and the physical examination was taken as gold standard. The Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) was also evaluated. Results: Sensitivity and specificity, in a worst case scenario (WC) combining both questions, were 96.5% and 66.7%, respectively, and in a per protocol (PP) analysis, were 96.5% and 75.2%. Conclusion: The questions validated detected eczema effectively, making this tool suitable for use e.g. in multicentre epidemiological studies or clinical trials.