Effects of age on human cumulative irritation responses.

A 10-day cumulative irritation test was conducted to evaluate whether or not test subjects 65 years of age and older would rank eleven test materials the same as subjects 18 to 45 years of age The test materials consisted of mild to moderately irritating chemicals. The test articles were ranked similarly for both groups of subjects. Statistical analysis indicated no significant difference between the groups of subjects. Thus older subjects should not necessarily be excluded in comparative studies of irritancy.