[Air pollution, eczema and asthma in Sør-Varanger. Is the high consumption of corticosteroid ointments caused by increased tendency for eczema?].

Many investigations suggest that a high degree of air-borne pollution increases the prevalence of diseases like asthma and eczema. Sør-Varanger Municipality in Finnmark County in the north of Norway receives much air-borne pollution from domestic industry and from the metallurgic industry on the Kola peninsula in North-Western Russia. We have investigated indirect parameters of morbidity caused by asthma and eczema by analyzing data on drug consumption and hospital admissions. In Sør-Varanger there is high consumption of corticosteroids for dermatological use. Consumption of anti-asthmatic drugs and number of admissions to hospital for asthma and eczema were no higher than expected. We suspect that air-borne pollution, particularly the heavy metal nickel, increases the prevalence and perhaps worsens the degree of eczema in Sør-Varanger.