The assesment of dermatology life quality index in nurses with occupational skin diseases in Türkiye

Abstract

Objective: The skin acts as one of the body’s first defense components against many external factors by creating a physical barrier. Therefore, it is significantly vulnerable to the irritating effects of protective personal equipment use. A wide range of occupational skin diseases (OSD) can be observed in the nurses who are in close contact with patients and frequently use personal equipment. We aim to identify different types OSD observed in the nurses and explore the impact of these skin diseases upon Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI).

Materials and Methods: A web-based questionnaire consisting of 24 questions related to the physician-confirmed cutaneous diseases observed in the participants who were actively working as nurses in Türkiye. DLQI was calculated by using DLQI score.

Results: Two hundred twenty nine participants were included in the study with a mean age of 33.74 years. The mean duration working as a nurse was 9.86 years. One hundred (43.7%) participants reported to have at least one skin disease; the most commonly observed occupational cutaneous skin diseases were xerosis, contact dermatitis, pruritus, brittle nail syndrome and callus formation. The median DLQI score was 4 (interquartile range=7.5). The time during which the participants worked as a nurse was significantly associated with the development of at least one OSD (p=0.02).

Conclusions: Our study show that OSD, most common ones being xerosis, contact dermatitis and pruritus seem to affect dermatologic life quality of the nurses in Türkiye.