Frequency of hand eczema in the elderly: Cross‐sectional findings from the German AugUR study

Abstract

Background Hand eczema (HE) is a chronic inflammatory skin disease caused by a genetic predisposition and environmental exposures. There is a lack of population-based studies on skin diseases in the elderly. Objectives Our aim was to estimate the frequency of HE in the elderly to determine its burden of disease in this particular population. Materials & Methods We analysed data from the research platform AugUR, a study on chronic diseases in the elderly (n = 1133, aged 70–95, mean age 77.6, 45.1% women). Raw frequencies were estimated using self-reports on physician-diagnosed hand eczema from a standardized personal interview. Frequencies were standardized to the Bavarian population weighted by gender and five-year age-groups. Results In our sample 2.7% (95%-CI: 1.6–4.3) people reported to ever have been diagnosed with hand eczema. Among those 57% were male. After standardization, the frequency was estimated at 2.8% (95%-CI: 1.9–3.9). There were no differences between male and female participants. Conclusions Compared to other studies on lifetime frequency of hand eczema, our estimates seem to be remarkably lower. More in-depth studies with validated diagnoses are warranted to precisely estimate the burden of hand eczema in the elderly.