Original articlePatients with negative patch tests: Retrospective analysis of North American Contact Dermatitis Group (NACDG) data 2001-2016
Section snippets
Database
This study was approved by the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center's Human Studies Subcommittee. The methods for patch testing, evaluation of reactions, and data recording by the NACDG have been published.7, 8, 9 Allergens (Chemotechnique Diagnostics AB, Malmö, Sweden, and allergEAZE SmartPractice, Calgary, Canada) were applied with Finn chambers (SmartPractice, Phoenix, AZ) and Scanpor tape (Norgesplaster Alpharma AS, Vennesla, Norway). NACDG members collected the following data
Patch test results
Of 34,822 patients tested by the NACDG, 68.7% (n = 23,934) had 1 or more PPT reactions; this included 22,538 patients who had 1 or more positive reaction(s) to NACDG screening allergen(s) and 1396 with positive reaction(s) to only non-NACDG supplemental allergen(s). These 23,934 patients were excluded from the study. The study cohort comprised 10,888 patients with NPT reactions (31.3%).
Demographics
Table I summarizes standardized demographic information (male, occupational dermatitis, atopic dermatitis,
Discussion
This study yielded several key findings. First, approximately one-third of patients referred for patch testing had NPT results (31.3%). Second, patients with NPT results were significantly more likely to be male (P < .0001); be age 40 years or younger (P = .0054); be nonwhite (P = .0005); and have dermatitis primarily with a scattered generalized distribution (P = .0007) or located primarily on the lips (P = .0214), eyelids (P = .0364), or other sites (P < .0001). Third, although patients with
Summary
This study provides a unique insight into an uncharacterized population. We found that almost one-third of patch tested patients had negative results (31.3%). Patients with NPT results were statistically more likely to be male, aged 40 years or younger, and nonwhite. Occupationally related skin disease was less common than in patients with PPT results, but among the patients with NPT results with occupationally related skin disease, the most common occupations were precision production
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Cited by (0)
Funding sources: None.
Disclosure: Dr Taylor is a consultant for Johnson & Johnson, Bayer, Equinox Group, and Kao Brands and a stockholder for Johnson & Johnson, Express Scripts, Opko Health, and Astra Zeneca; in addition, he is an author for Decision Support in Medicine, and he has a nondependent child who is employed by Pfizer. Dr Zirwas is part owner of AsepticMD; a speaker, consultant, and investigator for Regeneron/Sanofi; a speaker for Genentech/Novartis; a consultant for Fit Bit, L'Oreal, and Menlo; and an investigator for Leo, Janssen, Incyte, Foamix, DS Biopharma, UCB, Pfizer, Lilly, Asana, and Avillion. Dr Warshaw, Mrs Zhang, Dr Mathias, Dr DeKoven, Dr Maibach, Dr Sasseville, Dr Belsito, Dr Fowler, Dr Zug, Dr Fransway, Dr DeLeo, Dr Marks, and Dr Pratt have no conflicts of interest to disclose.
This material is the result of work supported with resources and the use of facilities at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center. The contents do not represent the views of the US Department of Veterans Affairs or the United States Government.
Reprints not available from the authors.