Nickel sensitivity in the general population

TLDR

Incidence of nickel sensitivity was assessed by epicutaneous testing with 5 % nickel sulphate on school, occupational, and elderly subjects. Nickel sensitivity was observed in 4.5 % of 980 subjects (8 % of females, 0.8 % of males), with 42 of 44 having a history of metal dermatitis, 16 (34 %) showing eczema at testing, and 1.6 % exhibiting manifest sensitivity.

Abstract

The incidence of nickel sensitivity in a population above the age of 10 was examined through epicutaneous tests with 5 % nickel sulphate performed on certain school and occupational test subjects and on subjects at a home for elderly people. Nickel sensitivity was observed in 4.5 % (in 44 cases of 980 tested subjects), in 8 % of the females and in 0.8 % of the males. In 42 of the 44 nickel‐sensitive subjects there was a history of dermatitis from metal contact. At the time of testing, 16 (34 %) of the nickel‐sensitive subjects revealed eczema. A manifest nickel sensitivity was thus found in 1.6 % of all tested subjects, in 2.8 % of females and in 0.4 % of males. Nickel sensitivity and a simultaneous hand eczema was noted in 0.9 % of the tested population, in 1.6 % of females and in 0.2 % of males. Hand eczemas were rarer (20.5 %) in the nickel‐sensitive subjects in the population study than in the nickel‐sensitive patients tested at the same time in the clinic (56.6 %). No case of nickel sensitivity was occupationally related.