Can pre‐employment patch testing help to prevent occupational contact allergy?

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

175 subjects (157 female, 18 male) were patch tested with a standard series of allergens (Epipharm Allergy Service, GmbH, Linz, Austria), during pre-employment examinations in the pharmaceutical industry, considered an industry at risk for the development of contact sensitization. None of those examined had contact dermatitis prior to testing and none gave a positive history of hand ecczema. Patch testing was positive in 12 (7%) subjects, of whom 7 showed a positive reaction to only 1 contact allergen and 5 reacted to several contact allergens. 5 subjects (2.9%) reacted positively to metal salts (nickel, cobalt, chromium), 5 (2.9%) had a positive skin reaction to mixtures of rubber additives, and the remaining 2 to other allergens.