Patch testing for contact allergies is routinely performed by applying a "standard series" of the most frequently occurring contact allergens. Internationally "established" standard series have to be adapted to country- and population-specific factors (i.e., distribution of gender and age, occupational behavior, environmental factors etc.). In 1992 and 1993 altogether 11,690 patients were patch tested in 14 Austrian test centers with the "Austrian standard patch test series" as recommended by the working group "Contact Allergy" of the Austrian Society of Dermatology. Altogether data on 11,544 patients were complete and are analyzed in this study. 71.5% of the test population were female with an average age of 39 years, whereas the male patients had an average age of 40 years. 38.1% of the patients were younger than 30 years, 47.8% were in the group ranging from 31 to 60 years and 14% of the tested patients were older than 60 years. Cutaneous sensitization was found in 51% of the people tested with the "Austrian standard series". This proportion varied between 40.8 and 61.4% from center to center (with more than 100 tested persons). 15 (60%) of the 25 test substances in 1992 and 17 (68%) in 1993 surpassed the limit of a sensitization frequency of 1%. The "hit list" of substances did not differ qualitatively from those of other international studies, with only one remarkable, well described "Austrian-specific" exception, namely the mercury-containing thiomersal (second place).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)