The prevalence of hand dermatitis in different occupational groups was estimated using a standardized questionnaire in a series of surveys among workers of a chemical company, a municipal electricity company, municipal public works, nurses and surgical assistants. A survey in a sample of the general population was performed to obtain a reference estimate of the prevalence. The prevalence of hand dermatitis in the general population was 5.2% in men and 10.6% in women. The prevalence of hand dermatitis among the occupational groups ranged from 2.9% in office workers to approximately 30% in nurses. The age-adjusted prevalence ratio (PR) of hand dermatitis in office workers was not significantly elevated compared with the general population. In nurses, the age-adjusted PR was 9.3 among men (95% confidence interval [CI]: 3.6-23.9) and 2.2 among women (95% CI: 1.5-3.5). The PR in surgical assistants was not significantly elevated (PR = 1.4, 95% CI: 0.7-2.6). This suggests that exposure in nurses (frequent washing of the hands), is more harmful to the skin than the less frequent but more intensive exposure in surgical assistants. The age-adjusted PR were also significantly elevated in male manual workers of the chemical company, the electricity company and public works and varied from 2.4 to 2.8. Occasional or regular occupational exposure to a variety of irritants in combination with mechanical stress (as occurs frequently in manual work) may be responsible for this observation.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)