Psychiatric morbidity and quality of life in patients with chronic idiopathic urticaria.
BACKGROUND
Chronic idiopathic urticaria (CIU) is a frequently occurring disease that has a great impact on the health-related quality of life (HRQL) of patients and seems to be associated with a number of psychological factors.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the prevalence of psychiatric morbidity in patients with CIU and to determine HRQL of CIU patients compared with controls.


METHODS
A semistructured interview form, a generic form of the HRQL questionnaire (Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey [SF-36]), and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis Disorders (SCID-I) were administered to CIU patients who presented to the Allergy Department of the University of Istanbul (from January 1 to April 30, 2005). Healthy subjects matched sociodemographically with the study group were used as the control group.


RESULTS
Eighty-four CIU patients and 75 controls were included in the study. The mean +/- SD age of the study participants was 36.83 +/- 10.26 years, and 84% were women. The mean +/- SD duration of the disease was 6.34 +/- 7.2 years, and symptoms were intermittent in 51%. The SCID-I revealed a psychiatric diagnosis in 60% of the patients. In terms of the distribution of psychiatric diagnoses, the most frequently occurring diagnosis was depressive disorders (40%). Most patients (81%) believed that their illnesses were due to stress. The subdomains on the SF-36 measurements were significantly lower than those of the control subjects (P < or = .005). The physical function, vitality, and mental health subdomains of the SF-36 in the patients with a psychiatric diagnosis were significantly lower (P < .05).


CONCLUSIONS
These findings suggested that psychiatric morbidity is high among ICU patients and is detrimental to their quality of life.
Ozkan
Mine
M
Departments of Psychiatry and Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, University of Istanbul, Istanbul, Turkey. mineozkan_klp@yahoo.com
Oflaz
Serap Batmaz
SB
Kocaman
Nazmiye
N
Ozseker
Ferhan
F
Gelincik
Ash
A
Büyüköztürk
Suna
S
Ozkan
Sedat
S
Colakoğlu
Bahattin
B
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology; D001828:Body Image; D002908:Chronic Disease; D015897:Comorbidity; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011788:Quality of Life; D012737:Sex Factors; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology; D014581:Urticaria / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology