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Hand dermatitis among female nursing students in tropical Australia
Author(s) -
Smith Derek R.,
Leggat Peter A.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
nursing and health sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.563
H-Index - 47
eISSN - 1442-2018
pISSN - 1441-0745
DOI - 10.1111/j.1442-2018.2004.00181.x
Subject(s) - atopic dermatitis , odds ratio , confidence interval , medicine , logistic regression , contact dermatitis , dermatology , environmental health , demography , allergy , immunology , sociology
Although hand dermatitis is known to affect nursing students worldwide, the prevalence among their Australian counterparts has not been elucidated and the relative contribution of tropical environments is unclear. Therefore, we conducted the first investigation of hand dermatitis among 232 female, undergraduate nurses in tropical Australia using a previously validated methodology. Hand dermatitis prevalence rose from 10.8% in the first year to 27.4% by the third year and averaged 18.5% across all three grades. Pre‐existing atopic dermatitis caused a 7.8‐fold risk increase during logistic regression analysis (odds ratio [OR] 7.8, 95% confidence interval [CI] 3.0–21.1, P < 0.0001). Overall, this study suggests that hand dermatitis is less common among tropical Australian nursing students than their counterparts around the world. The identification of atopic dermatitis as a hand dermatitis risk factor was, however, consistent with previous research conducted in non‐tropical areas.