Introduction- Contact dermatitis is particularly prevalent in hospital employees doing wet work, such as surgeons, nurses, laboratory, staff, cleaners and kitchen staff.Two types of allergy are recognized: type I or immediate hypersensitivity, leading to anaphylaxis, and type IV hypersensitivity, leading to contact dermatitis.
Aim & Objectives- a)— To assess the relationship between of history positive and patch test positive.b) To evaluate the relationship between duration of occupation and patch test positivity.
Material &Method -54 employees were enrolled from AVBRH during period of August 2011 to August 2012 after considering inclusion and exclusion criteria. It is an Interventional study.We used Indian battery for patch testing – Systopic Laboratories Pvt. Ltd with 20 standardized test substances comprising of the most common allergens or allergen mixes selected in accordance with the recommendations of International Contact Dermatitis Research Group (ICDRG) was used for patch test.
Results-Patch test was positive in 24.07% subjects.Patch test and history positive in 53.84% patients out of 13. Negative history but patch test was positive in 46.15%. Positive history but patch test was negative in 30.76%.there is no relationship between duration of occupation and positivity of patch test (p=0.4590 ( NS , p<0.05) ,sensitivity=21.95% ,specificity =66.67% , PPV = 69.23% , NPV=20% & Accuracy= 31.48% ; Fisher’s Exact test was used for statistical analysis. There was significant relationship between history positive and positive patch test  p=0.002 (S, p<0.05) , Sensitivity = 63.64%, specificity= 86.05% , PPV=53.85%,NPV= 90.24% & Accuracy= 81.48% Fisher’s Exact test used for analysis.
Conclusion: There is no relationship between duration of occupation and positivity of patch test. If patient is sensitive to any antigen irrespective to duration of exposure, patch test is positive.
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