[Prevalence of atopic conditions in patients with occupational contact allergic dermatitis: comparison between diagnostic tool].

BACKGROUND

Occupational allergic contact dermatitis (OACD), to which atopy contributes to a as yet unspecified degree, accounts for a considerable number of work-related diseases.

OBJECTIVE

We studied the prevalence of atopy in OACD patients. We also compared the ability of prick tests and specific IgE assays to detect it.

METHODS

In 329 patients diagnosed with OACD at the Occupational Medicine Unit of Cagliari University Hospital between 2000 and 2009, we aimed at detecting atopic conditions with prick tests and IgE assays specific for allergens most frequently responsible for atopic reaction. A kappa test was used to assess concordance between the two assays. The 2 test for trend was used in the analysis of prevalence of atopy by age at diagnosis.

RESULTS

A positive response was more frequently detected with prick tests (35.9%) than the specific IgE assays (31%). IgE assays for all the allergens we tested were more frequently positive among males (p range = 0.001-0.037). With either test, the highest observed prevalence of a positive response was to Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus. A significantly inverse trend with increasing age in the prevalence ofpositive reaction to Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus, Phleum pratense and Olea europaea (olive) allergens was also observed. The concordance between the two tests ranged between good (Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus, Phleum pratense and Olea europaea and moderate Artemisia vulgaris (mugwort) and Parietaria judaica.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results showed a prevalence of atopic conditions in 31-35.9% of OACD patients.

RESULTS

with the two assays were largely consistent, indicating that both prick tests an specific IgE assays are valid diagnostic tools for atopy.