Prognosis of contact dermatitis in epoxy resin workers

Between January 1993 and February 2002, 40 of 1354 (3 ) workers who attended a tertiary referral occupational dermatology clinic were diagnosed with allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) from epoxy resin systems (ER). 20 of these patients were followed up at least 2 years post-diagnosis to establish prognosis. Characteristics collected at diagnosis, including age, atopic status and severity, were compared between the follow-up and not followed-up groups. No significant differences were observed. A clinician contacted patients and administered a telephone questionnaire based on variables identified from the literature, which were considered of importance for prognosis. All patients reported improvement of their skin condition since diagnosis. 12 of the 20 60 [95 confidence interval (CI) 56a??94 patients had applied for workersa?? compensation; all of these claims were successful. 16 had ceased working with ER. Of these, 9 [56 (95 CI 29a??80 )] reported complete healing and 7 [44 (95 CI 19a??70 )] reported ongoing dermatitis. Although no conclusions could be drawn because of the small sample size, factors that may be associated with a poor prognosis were age, atopy, duration of symptoms and severity at diagnosis. The prognosis of ACD from ER is not always favourable, even if a worker ceases exposure.