Table 6.

Consultations for chronic hand eczema

References	Country	Consultations
Thyssen et al. [24]	Finland	> 5 visits (1982–83) Hand eczema: 34.5% Allergic contact dermatitis: 34.9% Irritant dermatitis: 11.9%
Cortesi et al. [15]	Italy	Mean (minimum–maximum) number of specialist consultations (dermatologist, allergist, occupational physician, immunologist, police doctor) per patient-month: 0.9 (0.0–2.7)
Augustin et al. [14]	Germany	Outpatient care visits in the last 4 weeks: 3.1
Apfelbacher et al. [32]	Germany	After inclusion in the CARPE registry, trend of visits in the past 12 months To the dermatologist: decreased strongly To the general practitioner: decreased strongly
Blank et al. [11]	Switzerland	Dermatologist visits per month: 1
Malkonen et al. [30]	Finland	Consulted a doctor within the last 7 years: 48%
Herschel et al. [19]	Germany	Mean number of physician visits in the past 12 months: 4.0 (SD 5.0) No GP visits in past 12 months: 22% GP care: 21.4% Dermatologist care: 74.9%
Josefson et al. [28]	Sweden	GP visit: 50% (n = 129)
Dibenedetti et al. [21]	USA	Time frame in which patients sought medical attention after noticing symptoms of CHE (n = 163) Within 6 months: 26% 6 months to 1 year: 34% Type of physician consulted for the first time Primary care physician: 54% Dermatologist: 39%
Meding et al. [4]	Sweden	Visited a doctor (n = 868): 33%
Hald et al. [22]	Denmark	Self-reported duration of hand eczema symptoms within the past 12 months in relation to medical consultations (n = 427) Not seen by a medical doctor (n = 138, missing data n = 1)  All the time: 3.6%  More than half the time: 8.0%  Half the time: 5.8%  Less than half the time: 63.0%  No symptoms: 19.6% Seen by a GP but not a dermatologist (n = 102)  All the time: 9.8%  More than half the time: 12.7%  Half the time: 9.8%  Less than half the time: 45.1%  No symptoms: 22.5% Seen by a GP and a dermatologist (n = 184, missing data n = 2) All the time: 16.8% More than half the time: 11.4%  Half the time: 14.7% Less than half the time: 42.9%  No symptoms: 14.1%
Lerbaek et al. [29]	Denmark	(n = 188) 1 GP visit: 25.3% 2–5 visits: 22.6% > 5 visits: 15.6% Total visits (n = 186): 63.4% Multivariate model to predict >1 medical consultation Significant predictors, AD vs. no AD: OR 3.0 (95% CI 1.4–6.4), p = 0.006
Petersen et al. [23]	Denmark	Patients who have experienced periods of hand eczema since 2007 (n = 419) GP visit: 47% Dermatologist visit: 40% 1 GP visit: 23% > 5 GP visits: 6% 1 dermatologist visit: 14% > 5 dermatologist visits: 13%
Steengaard et al. [31]	Denmark	(n = 144) Visits to dermatologist, total: 35.4% Intervention: 44.0% Control: 26.1%, p = 0.20

AD atopic dermatitis, CHE chronic hand eczema, CI confidence interval, GP general practitioner, OR odds ratio, SD standard deviation