Background: Contact allergy is common among adults. However, little is known about the prevalence in adolescents.
Objectives: To assess the prevalence of allergy to common contact allergens in Swedish adolescents in the general population.
Participants and methods: The BAMSE cohort is a population-based birth cohort with the main aim of studying the risk factors for asthma, rhinitis, and atopic dermatitis. Patch testing was performed at the 16-year follow-up. The test (TRUE Test(®) ) was applied at home, and removed 2 days later by nurses, who recorded and photographed the results. Dermatologists made final assessments on the basis of photographs and protocols.
Results: Two thousand two hundred and eighty-five participants (88% of all 16-year follow-up participants) were patch tested; 15.3% had at least one positive reaction. Contact allergy was more common in girls than in boys (17.0% versus 13.4%, p = 0.018). Sensitization to nickel was most common (7.5%), followed by sensitization to fragrance mix I (2.1%) and p-tert-butylphenol formaldehyde resin (1.9%). Nickel allergy was more frequent in girls (9.8% versus 4.9%, p < 0.001). Solitary sensitization to cobalt was more common than co-sensitization to nickel and cobalt.
Conclusions: The prevalence of contact allergy in adolescents is of almost the same high magnitude as in adults. The applied method was feasible in the population-based setting.
Keywords: adolescents; epidemiology; fragrances; metals; patch test; plastics.
© 2015 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.