A Study of Hand Dermatitis and Associated Factors During The COVID-19 Pandemic Hand Dermatitis and Associated Factors during COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: This study was conducted to determine the associated factors of hand dermatitis during a COVID-19 pandemic versus a non-COVID pandemic year by comparing the frequency of outpatient clinic visits.
METHODS: This retrospective study used data from the dermatology department from January 2019 to December 2020. As an epidemiological assessment of increased dermatologic clinic visits of hand dermatitis patients, the Poisson mean difference model with generalized estimating equation regression was used.
RESULTS: The study comprised a total of 16,506 outpatient dermatological clinic visits, including 793 hand dermatitis visits. After controlling the confounders such as demographic data, occupation, and corticosteroid use, hand dermatitis visits increased by 30% during the pandemic period compared to the pre-pandemic period. The average age of patients was 55.2 ± 16.4 years. Females mainly composed 70.6% and 62.8% of the subjects during the pandemic and pre-pandemic periods, respectively (P = 0.022). Patients reported significantly less hand cream usage (P = 0.013) and foot dermatitis diagnosed (P = 0.009) during the pandemic period than during the pre-pandemic period. Furthermore, patients were prescribed topical corticosteroids with low to moderate potency more frequently during the pandemic period (P = 0.019), whereas the use of topical corticosteroids with moderate to high potency and systemic corticosteroids did not differ between the two time periods.
CONCLUSION: The COVID -19 pandemic had an impact on hand dermatitis in increasing outpatient dermatologic clinic visits. Emollient use is an important preventive factor in hand dermatitis. More hand cream use might help prevent hand dermatitis during COVID-19 pandemic and other infectious pandemics in the future.