title: Impact of hand eczema severity on quality of life.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hand eczema is a common disease seen in dermatological practice comprising of a spectrum ranging from mild disease to a severe distressing and chronic course with a negative impact on the quality of life.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To assess the impact of hand eczema severity on quality of life.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients with hand eczema were enrolled in a prospective study. Disease severity was assessed by hand eczema severity index (HECSI) score and quality of life by dermatology life quality index (DLQI) questionnaire.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Forty-six patients participated of which 22 (47.8%) were males and 24 (52.2%) females. The commonest age group affected among men and women was 50-59 years (31.8%) and 40-49 years (41.7%) respectively. History of atopy was found in 23.9% and 63% had persistent disease. In 28 (60.9%), the trigger was washing soaps and detergents of which 21 (87.5%) were housewives. Of those employed, 27.7% reported loss of work days. The mean HECSI score was 14.46 (S.D = 20.98) and mean DLQI score was 9.54 (S.D = 5.62). Gender, age, occupation and duration of disease did not significantly affect the quality of life or disease severity. Increased episodes of eczema (>4 episodes/year) showed a statistically significant correlation with DLQI (P value = 0.021). There was no significant correlation between HECSI score and DLQI in this study.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Majority of the patients with hand eczema had a significant impairment of their quality of life. The impairment of quality of life in this study was mainly dependent on increased frequency of the eruptions and not on hand eczema severity.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Dermatology, Venereology and Leprosy, Christian Medical College, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Ujwala Priya
authors.initials: UP
authors.lastname: Charan
authors.forename: C V Dincy
authors.initials: CV
authors.lastname: Peter
authors.forename: Susanne A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Pulimood
keywords: Hand eczema; hand eczema severity index; quality of life