Association between poorer quality of life and psychiatric morbidity in patients with different dermatological conditions.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the relationship between skin-related quality of life and psychiatric morbidity in patients with different skin conditions.


METHODS
We recruited all adults attending the outpatient clinics of the Dermatological Institute IDI-IRCCS, Rome, Italy, during 14 predetermined days. Eligible patients, who gave their informed consent, completed the Skindex-29 and the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). We used a stringent cut-off threshold (> or =5 on the GHQ-12) for identification of psychiatric morbidity. Skindex-29 scale scores were computed separately for GHQ noncases and GHQ cases.


RESULTS
A total of 2,136 patients were included in the analysis. For all skin conditions, GHQ cases had substantially poorer score in all 3 domains of quality of life, Symptoms, Emotions, and Functioning. Most differences remained significant after adjusting for clinical severity, age, sex, and education in multiple regression models. These differences were not as marked in the Symptoms scale for some conditions known to be nearly asymptomatic (eg, alopecia, vitiligo, nevi), suggesting that, although patients with psychiatric morbidity might be more burdened by their symptoms, nevertheless they do not perceive nonexistent symptoms.


CONCLUSIONS
In most skin conditions we considered, psychiatric morbidity was strongly associated with poorer quality of life. Although the cross-sectional nature of our study does not allow identification of the direction of this association, care for the psychological condition of patients might have an impact on their quality of life.
Dermatological Institute IDI-IRCCS, Rome, Italy.
Francesca
F
Sampogna
Angelo
A
Picardi
Mary-Margaret
MM
Chren
C Franco
CF
Melchi
Paolo
P
Pasquini
Cinzia
C
Masini
Damiano
D
Abeni
D000328:Adult; D002908:Chronic Disease; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D010555:Personality Inventory; D011788:Quality of Life; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012871:Skin Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires