Stenberg Berndt, Lindberg Magnus, Meding Birgitta, Svensson Ake
Department of Public Health and Clinical Medicine, Dermatology and Venereology and Epidemiology, Umeå University, SE-901 85 Umeå, Sweden.
Contact Dermatitis. 2006 Jun;54(6):334-7. doi: 10.1111/j.0105-1873.2006.00851.x.
Atopic eczema (AE) is a major risk factor for hand eczema. In Scandinavian population-based studies, the occurrence of AE in childhood has often been assessed by the question 'Have you had childhood eczema?' In the present study, this question was validated. A questionnaire was sent to 600 cases with AE and 600 controls without eczema or allergic disease, identified in school medical records from the 1960s. The response rate was 70.5%, and the mean age of the respondents was 36.7 years. The specificity of the question was 70.7% and the sensitivity 89.9%. The sensitivity was higher and the specificity lower in a subgroup with current hand eczema compared with a group without hand eczema. The results showed that the question overestimated the prevalence of AE in childhood by a factor of 1.6. When used for risk assessment, the question provided a better estimate of the risk of current hand eczema as compared with the lifetime risk of hand eczema. In conclusion, the validated question overestimated prevalence of childhood AE and may overestimate AE as a risk factor for hand eczema in adult population surveys.
特应性湿疹（AE）是手部湿疹的主要危险因素。在斯堪的纳维亚基于人群的研究中，儿童期AE的发生情况通常通过“你是否患过儿童湿疹？”这一问题来评估。在本研究中，对该问题进行了验证。向600例AE患者以及600例无湿疹或过敏性疾病的对照者发放了问卷，这些对照者是从20世纪60年代的学校医疗记录中识别出来的。应答率为70.5%，应答者的平均年龄为36.7岁。该问题的特异性为70.7%，敏感性为89.9%。与无手部湿疹的组相比，患有当前手部湿疹的亚组的敏感性更高，特异性更低。结果表明，该问题将儿童期AE的患病率高估了1.6倍。当用于风险评估时，与手部湿疹的终生风险相比，该问题能更好地估计当前手部湿疹的风险。总之，经过验证的这个问题高估了儿童期AE的患病率，并且在成人人群调查中可能高估了AE作为手部湿疹危险因素的情况。
