Prospective study on hand dermatitis in nurses and doctors during COVID ‐19 pandemic and its improvement by use of adopted recommendations of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology Task Force on Contact Dermatitis

Abstract

Frequency of hand disinfection and adverse skin reactions among health care workers dramatically increased since the COVID-19 outbreak and consensus recommendations on hand hygiene were presented. The aim of the present study was to check the efficacy of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (EADV) Task Force (TF) on Contact Dermatitis (CD) recommendations in a real life and to search if providing products mentioned in that recommendations may increase its efficacy. Doctors and nurses who worked with patients during COVID-19 pandemic and use hand disinfectants received adopted recommendations of the EADV TF on CD only or together with mentioned in that recommendations gel with ethanol and glycerin and emollient. Prevalence of adverse skin reactions on hand disinfectants at baseline was 80.21%. In a month significant improvement of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and self-assessed improvement of hand skin (P < .01 for both) was reported in "products" group only. Number of participants that had no impact on their HRQoL became higher and the Dermatology Life Quality Index scores lower than in "recommendations only" group (P = .03 and P = .02, respectively). Our results showed that recommendations of the EADV TF on CD may significantly improve HRQoL and hand skin status in health care professionals but provision with products mentioned in that recommendations is crucial.

Personal protective equipment-related occupational dermatoses during COVID-19 among health care workers: A worldwide systematic review

“…Sixteen articles were found suitable for inclusion in our review. [9][10][11][12][13][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26] These were largely crosssectional studies with cohort sizes ranging from 7 to 542. A total of 3958 participants were described in these studies.…”

“…Guertler et al 18 performed a subgroup analysis between HCWs working directly with COVID-19 patients in an intensive care unit setting and those who did not, finding that hand hygiene practices and rates of hand dermatitis were largely comparable between the 2 groups. Chernyshov et al 21 divided participants into 3 groups, 2 of which received different hand care products (gels and emollients), whereas the remaining group did not. Their findings were that participants in the intervention groups reported significantly enhanced dermatology life quality index scores and subjective improvement in symptoms after 1 month compared with the controls.…”

“…40,41 In severe or refractory cases, topical and, sometimes, oral glucocorticoid agents may even play a role in reducing inflammation, and ample time should be given for damaged skin to recover before the resumption of clinical duties. Furthermore, the study by Chernyshov et al 21 indicated that direct the provision of emollients to HCWs, as opposed to simply advising them on skin care education, may be far better in encouraging the diligent use of such products. We, therefore, recommend that health care institutions consider providing emollients to HCWs, especially those who face prolonged working hours in PPE.…”

Occupational Contact Dermatitis: An Individualized Approach to the Worker with Dermatitis

“…Multiple publications describe and analyze the cutaneous side effects of PPE and intensified hand hygiene, consistently finding that OCD is the predominant observed reaction [43−45]. With respect to hand dermatitis, alcohol-based hand sanitizers with moisturizers have the least sensitizing and irritancy potential compared to soaps and synthetic detergents [46]. In a study in health care professionals, the provision of recommendations which included specific product names was found to be superior to general recommendations alone [47].…”

Nails and COVID ‐19 – A comprehensive review of clinical findings and treatment

“…One study reported adverse cutaneous reactions to frequent hand washing and frequent use of disinfectants in up to 80.2%. 46 Nails can be affected due to wet work leading to brittle nails. Loss of cuticle is often seen together with a chronic irritant proximal nail fold dermatitis (Figure 5 ).…”