Occupational skin disease in Finland. An analysis of 10 years of statistics from an occupational dermatology clinic.

An analysis of 10 years (1974-1983) of statistics was carried out at the Institute of Occupational Health, Helsinki, Section of Dermatology, which is devoted to occupational dermatology. A total of 1,082 cases of occupational skin diseases were diagnosed during this period. Allergic (50.1%) and toxic eczema (47.1%) comprised the majority of occupational cases of dermatosis. The most frequent causes of allergic occupational eczemas were rubber chemicals (19.9%), chromates (18.8%), and epoxy resins (13.1%). If the metals (chromium, nickel and cobalt) were considered as a group, they formed the largest category (28.4%), followed by the plastic materials (27.7%). Detergents (37.8%), followed by organic solvents (16.1%), were responsible for most of the irritant (toxic) eczemas. Occupational skin diseases currently make up about 20% of all occupational diseases in Finland, but the percentage is decreasing.