The effect of population diversity on skin irritation.

The impact of many human variables on the response to skin irritating substances has been studied to varying degrees, including the impact of age, sex, and atopic status. However, the importance of ethnic origin has been more difficult to investigate, leading to a relative paucity of compelling data, either for or against the existence of differences. A primary reason for this lack is that studies on different ethnic groups often have to be undertaken in different locations thus introducing variables, e.