Prevalence of self-reported cutaneous symptoms in subjects working at indoor swimming pools

As a part of an Italian study on health effects of swimming pools employees, the aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of self-reported cutaneous symptoms in indoor swimming pools workers, as some epidemiological studies suggested high prevalence rates of eczema in subjects working inside the pool water as trainers, pool attendants and hydro therapists. Information about the health status of 133 employees was collected by a structured questionnaire. The questionnaire recorded demographic characteristics, lifestyle, working related activities (kind of job, number of working hours by day and week, previous or parallel jobs) and symptoms related to cutaneous apparatus (verruca, mycosis, eczema and rash). Most of the swimming pool workers were females (52.6%), with a mean age of 33 ys, non-smokers (48.9%), working in swimming pools for an average of 8 years: no statistical differences were observed. According to the questionnaire data, 50% of the subjects had attended indoor swimming pools for more than 20 years, mainly as swimmers. The prevalence of cutaneous diseases in the investigated subjects was: rash (20.3%), verruca (16.5%), mycosis (15.8%) and eczema (9.0%). However, subjects who declared to spend some hours inside the pool water during their working activities experienced generally more verruca (20.8% vs 3.1%), mycosis (17.8% vs 9.4%) and eczema (9.9% vs 6.2%) than other employees without any activities in the pool water. Rash frequency was very similar (20.3% and 21.9%) in both the categories of workers. This study confirms that lifeguards and trainers are more at risk for cutaneous diseases than subjects with other occupations at swimming pool facilities. However, even though our study does not specifically include hydro-therapists, we did not find more eczema or rash in trainers who entered the pool water during their teaching activities when compared with other investigated employees.