Dermatology in public health - a model for surveillance of common skin diseases
(2010) In Scandinavian Journal of Public Health 38(4). p.368-374- Abstract
- Aims: The aim was to establish a baseline prevalence of skin conditions of public health importance in the general population and taking the validity of the questions into account. Our model is intended for future surveillance of skin conditions. Methods: The suggested questions have for the first time been used in Swedish population surveys. A random sample was taken from the general population aged 16 to 84 years of the participating areas. Results: During the past 12 months, hand eczema was reported by 9.4%, childhood eczema by 15.7% and nickel allergy by 13.7% of the population. Hand and childhood eczema questions have previously been validated. Taking the validity into account, the actual population prevalence of hand eczema (11.7%)... (More)
- Aims: The aim was to establish a baseline prevalence of skin conditions of public health importance in the general population and taking the validity of the questions into account. Our model is intended for future surveillance of skin conditions. Methods: The suggested questions have for the first time been used in Swedish population surveys. A random sample was taken from the general population aged 16 to 84 years of the participating areas. Results: During the past 12 months, hand eczema was reported by 9.4%, childhood eczema by 15.7% and nickel allergy by 13.7% of the population. Hand and childhood eczema questions have previously been validated. Taking the validity into account, the actual population prevalence of hand eczema (11.7%) is underestimated, and the prevalence of atopic childhood eczema (10.0%) is overestimated based on the results of the questionnaire. In addition to presenting prevalence, population survey results can be used for risk analyses. A 10-fold risk of hand eczema in individuals with childhood eczema and self-reported nickel sensitivity is shown in our study. Conclusions: Questionnaires can be used for epidemiologic surveillance so long as the questions are validated and that the validity is taken into account when estimating the occurrence of the conditions. Public health surveys such as this one lay the basis for future epidemiological surveillance of skin conditions that can be subject to interventions. We propose that these, or similar, questions should be used regularly in population surveys and supplemented by questions on skin exposure. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/1616615
- author
- Stenberg, Berndt ; Meding, Birgitta and Svensson, Åke LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2010
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- questionnaire, public health, nickel allergy, Childhood eczema, hand eczema, survey, validity
- in
- Scandinavian Journal of Public Health
- volume
- 38
- issue
- 4
- pages
- 368 - 374
- publisher
- SAGE Publications
- external identifiers
-
- wos:000278152300005
- scopus:77953389985
- ISSN
- 1651-1905
- DOI
- 10.1177/1403494810364557
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- additional info
- The information about affiliations in this record was updated in December 2015. The record was previously connected to the following departments: Department of Dermatology and Venerology (013241320)
- id
- 060b269a-9246-4627-a091-07bbc32d5175 (old id 1616615)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 13:22:36
- date last changed
- 2022-04-21 21:19:40
@article{060b269a-9246-4627-a091-07bbc32d5175,
abstract = {{Aims: The aim was to establish a baseline prevalence of skin conditions of public health importance in the general population and taking the validity of the questions into account. Our model is intended for future surveillance of skin conditions. Methods: The suggested questions have for the first time been used in Swedish population surveys. A random sample was taken from the general population aged 16 to 84 years of the participating areas. Results: During the past 12 months, hand eczema was reported by 9.4%, childhood eczema by 15.7% and nickel allergy by 13.7% of the population. Hand and childhood eczema questions have previously been validated. Taking the validity into account, the actual population prevalence of hand eczema (11.7%) is underestimated, and the prevalence of atopic childhood eczema (10.0%) is overestimated based on the results of the questionnaire. In addition to presenting prevalence, population survey results can be used for risk analyses. A 10-fold risk of hand eczema in individuals with childhood eczema and self-reported nickel sensitivity is shown in our study. Conclusions: Questionnaires can be used for epidemiologic surveillance so long as the questions are validated and that the validity is taken into account when estimating the occurrence of the conditions. Public health surveys such as this one lay the basis for future epidemiological surveillance of skin conditions that can be subject to interventions. We propose that these, or similar, questions should be used regularly in population surveys and supplemented by questions on skin exposure.}},
author = {{Stenberg, Berndt and Meding, Birgitta and Svensson, Åke}},
issn = {{1651-1905}},
keywords = {{questionnaire; public health; nickel allergy; Childhood eczema; hand eczema; survey; validity}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{4}},
pages = {{368--374}},
publisher = {{SAGE Publications}},
series = {{Scandinavian Journal of Public Health}},
title = {{Dermatology in public health - a model for surveillance of common skin diseases}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1403494810364557}},
doi = {{10.1177/1403494810364557}},
volume = {{38}},
year = {{2010}},
}