Background: Studies on wet work and hand eczema (HE) frequently rely solely on self-reports regarding wet work.
Objectives: To assess the association between wet work and moderate-to-very-severe HE, within the Dutch general population, by using a (sex-specific) job exposure matrix (JEM).
Methods: Within the Lifelines Cohort Study, participants with self-reported moderate-to-very-severe HE at worst in the past year were linked to data from the Danish (sex-specific) wet work JEM, a tool that links occupations with wet work indices (including duration and probability of glove use, wet hands and total wet work for at least 2 and 4 h/working day).
Results: In total, 56 978 (41.9%) participants were included. The multivariate binary logistic regression analyses showed significant associations between all facets of wet work and moderate-to-very-severe HE. When using the sex-specific JEM, significant associations were found in females, but not in males.
Conclusions: This study is the first to use a wet work-specific JEM in a general population sample, and found positive associations between wet work and HE. The sex-specific findings should be interpreted with caution, due to limitations inherent in using a JEM, and should be further explored with observational studies, with a focus on duration, frequency, and exposure type.
Keywords: general population; hand dermatitis; hand eczema; job exposure matrix; occupational exposure; wet work; work‐related exposure.
© 2024 The Author(s). Contact Dermatitis published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.