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Contact allergy to lanolin: temporal changes in prevalence and association with atopic dermatitis
Author(s) -
Fransen Marloes,
Overgaard Line E. K.,
Johansen Jeanne D.,
Thyssen Jacob P.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
contact dermatitis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.524
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1600-0536
pISSN - 0105-1873
DOI - 10.1111/cod.12872
Subject(s) - lanolin , allergy , patch test , medicine , contact dermatitis , allergen , dermatology , atopic dermatitis , irritant contact dermatitis , patch testing , contact allergy , immunology , chemistry , organic chemistry
Summary Background Lanolin has been tested as lanolin alcohols (30% pet.) in baseline patch test series since 1969, and this has shown clinically relevant allergic contact dermatitis cases. Objectives To investigate the temporal development of lanolin allergy (i.e. positive reaction to lanolin alcohols and/or A merchol™ L ‐101), and the association between contact allergy to lanolin and patient characteristics from the MOAHLFA index. Methods A retrospective observational study of consecutively patch tested dermatitis patients (n = 9577) between 1 January 2004 and 31 December 2015 with lanolin alcohols 30% pet. and A merchol™ L ‐101 50% pet. was performed. Results The prevalence of lanolin allergy increased from 0.45% in 2004 to 1.81% in 2015. In age‐adjusted and sex‐adjusted analyses, weak, significant associations were found between atopic dermatitis and lanolin and lanolin alcohols allergy, respectively, but no association with A merchol™ L ‐101 allergy was found. Among 9286 dermatitis patients who were tested with both allergens, 108 had a positive test reaction to either lanolin alcohols or A merchol™ L ‐101, whereas only 29 patients had positive test reactions to both markers. Conclusions The prevalence of lanolin contact allergy has increased over a 12‐year period, and inclusion of A merchol™ L ‐101 will increase the chance of detecting lanolin contact allergy. Patch testing with lanolin is helpful in atopics with dermatitis and suspected cosmetic allergy.