Studies on the prevalence of hand dermatitis in construction painting are rare. Our aim was to study the painters' chemical exposure and the prevalence of self-reported skin symptoms on hands and forearms. A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted on 1000 Finnish male construction painters and 1000 carpenters (response rates 60.6% and 60.4%, respectively). We used 2 definitions for symptom-based hand dermatitis (liberal > or = 2 symptoms and strict criteria > or = 3) and logistic regression analysis, adjusted with age and atopy. Painters reported more symptoms of hand dermatitis than carpenters (12-month prevalence 22.5% and 14.2%, P