Skin disease among staff in a Japanese nursing home.

Skin disease is one of the most important occupational disorders for workers of industrialised nations. Among them, health care staff are a particularly vulnerable subgroup due to their continuous handwashing and exposure to skin irritants. Smith et al. previously reported a high prevalence of skin disease among nursing home staff in Australia and Taiwan . However, dermatological investigations of their Japanese counterparts are rare. As such, we decided to conduct an epidemiological study of skin disease among typical palliative care staff in central Japan.