Associations between Contact Allergy to Epoxy Resin and Fragrance Mix

Sir, A Danish industry producing rotor blades for wind turbines with an epoxy-based technology had experienced an increased number of workers with dermatitis. To estimate the frequencies of work-related dermatitis, 603 workers were interviewed and clinically examined and 325 (82% men and 18% women) with suspected work-related dermatitis were patch-tested (to be published). As part of the results of the investigation, an association was found between contact allergy to epoxy resin and fragrance mix in the European standard series (odds ratio 5.5, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.5‐17; p~0.009, Table I). No obvious gender differences were discerned, but the number of female workers was limited. To investigate whether the association between these allergens was restricted to the workers or indicated a possible, general phenomenon, the patch-test population of our department was analysed with respect to the corresponding association. RESULTS Among 4857 consecutively patch-tested patients (39% men and 61% women) with dermatitis 1995‐2002, simultaneous contact allergies to epoxy resin and fragrance mix were found in 11 patients (Table I). The odds ratio for simultaneous contact allergies among the patients was 2.8 (95% CI 1.3‐5.4; p~0.009 exact method provided by Stat Xact-5, Cytel Software Corp). Among our patients, the association between contact allergy to epoxy resin and fragrance mix was restricted to men. The odds ratio among the men was 6.2 (95% CI, 2.3‐15; pv0.001), while among women it was 1.1 (95% CI 0.22‐3.7; pw0.3). When testing the homogeneity of the odds ratios, the difference between men and women was statistically significant (p~0.02, Zelen’s test).