Skin symptoms on the hands of female house-cleaning personnel]

Skin symptoms on the hands were studied in questionnaire-based studies conducted in 1989 and 1991 among female cleaners employed at Danish nursing homes, schools and offices. Eleven hundred and sixty-six participated in 1989 and 1011 of them participated in 1991. The average age was 45 years and the average length of five employed as a cleaner was ten years. Forty-three percent reported to have had at least one out of four skin symptoms during a one year period. Seventy percent reported improvement during week-ends and holidays. A positive correlation was found between hours per week spent with wet hands and skin symptoms. During the follow-up period the risk of developing skin symptoms was higher in the group who remained cleaners compared with the group who left the cleaning job. Similarly, the prognosis was better in the group which left the cleaning job compared with the group which remained cleaners. There is a future need to develop and implement new work organisation and cleaning methods to reduce the time spent with wet hands.