Adult Eczema in Italy: prevalence and association with environmental factors

Studies on the prevalence of eczema and atopic dermatitis (AD) and on the factors associated with these diseases have been mostly performed in children whereas studies on adult populations are lacking. the objective was to determine the prevalence of eczema and AD in the Italian adult population and to investigate rosk factors associated with the disease.A posta screening questionnaire was administered to 18.357 randomly selected subjects aged 22-44 years in the Gene-Environment Interaction in Respiratory Diseases Study wich involved 7 centres distributed across northern, central and southers Italy. The questionnaire included items on the occurrence of doctor-diagnosed eczema, asthma and hay fever, socio-demographic characteristics and environmenta exposures.. Eczema and EAH are highly prevalent in Italian young adults especially in women. Results suggest that adult-onset is not usual and that environmental factors may influence the occurrency of eczema and EAH