Survey of awareness and current state of latex allergy among all health care workers at a university hospital

For the first time in Japan, a large-scale survey to investigate awareness of latex allergy was carried out, targeting all health care workers at Fujita Health University School of Medicine (total 1512 people). At first, we used questionnaires to collect information regarding the level of awareness of latex allergy as well as the incidence of clinical symptoms when using natural rubber products. The results of the survey revealed that approximately 85% of respondents were aware of latex allergy. Among all respondents, approximately 19% had actual experience with clinical symptoms. As a result of skin tests conducted on respondents who had acknowledged clinical symptoms, 44 people (total 3.3%) were diagnosed with latex allergy. In addition, the results revealed that people who were diagnosed with latex allergy tended to suffer atopic dermatitis and hand eczema. Furthermore, it became evident that health care workers whose work environment involved frequent exposure to natural rubber products showed a higher incidence of latex allergy. We demonstrated that a specific IgE assay was not sufficiently sensitive for diagnosing latex allergy. However, skin tests such as prick and use tests were confirmed to be effective diagnostic measures for latex allergy.