The prevalence and severity of hand eczema in the general population: data from the Lifelines Cohort Study.

Introduction: 
Data outside of Scandinavian countries on prevalence of hand eczema (HE), and data on chronic HE and severity of HE in the general population, is lacking. 
Objectives: 
To investigate the prevalence and severity of HE in the general, Dutch population.
Methods: 
A digital questionnaire was sent to 135 950 participants of the Lifelines Cohort Study. 
Results: 
57 798 subjects were included. The lifetime prevalence of HE was 15.0%, the 1-year prevalence 7.3%, and the self-reported physician diagnosed prevalence 6.1%. Of the subjects with HE in the past year, 63.9% had chronic HE. Subjects with chronic HE reported a higher proportion of severe to very severe HE among all severity categories compared to subjects without chronic HE. The majority (56.9%) of the subjects with lifetime HE had almost clear HE at worst ever, and 12.9% reported severe to very severe HE at worst ever, resulting in a proportion of severe to very severe HE at worst ever in the general population of 1.9%. 
Conclusion: 
The found prevalence was similar to the prevalence estimates of studies from other countries. Future epidemiological studies on HE in the general population should include data about both chronic HE and severity of HE, as this can provide perspective to the reported prevalence of HE, and whether these patients have been sufficiently been treated for their symptoms. This way, it will be clear which improvements are necessary in the treatment of chronic and severe HE.