title: Prevalence and quality of life in high school pupils with acne in Serbia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Acne is a common problem in adolescent children with considerable emotional and psychological effects. The aim of this study was to determine the self-reported prevalence of acne and to assess its impact on the quality of life in high school pupils in Serbia.
  
  
  METHODS
  The cross-sectional study was conducted in May 2011 in two medical high schools in Serbia. Only pupils who gave a written informed consent to participate in the study (n = 440) were asked to fill in two questionnaires: short demographic questionnaire and Cardiff Acne Disability Index (CADI), a disease-specific questionnaire measuring disability induced by acne. Internal consistency (tested by Cronbach's alpha) and item-total score correlations (Spearman's correlation analysis) were used for reliability analyses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The study population consisted of 440 pupils, 281 from Belgrade and 159 from Uzice. Among them 371 (84.3%) were girls and 69 (15.7%) boys, with similar sex distribution in Belgrade and Uzice. The total mean age of pupils was 16.48 years (SD = 0.55). Out of 440 pupils 228 (51.8%) self-reported their acne. The acne prevalence was significantly higher in pupils from Uzice (73.6%) than in those from Belgrade (39.6%). The overall mean CADI score for the whole sample was 2.87 +/- 2.74, with the similar quality of life impairment in adolescents from Belgrade and from Uzice. The mean Cronbach's alpha was 0.82.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study shows that the quality of life impairment due to acne is mild for the majority of the affected pupils. The Serbian version of the CADI is a reliable, valid, and valuable tool for assessing the impact of acne on the quality of life.
authors: Institute of Dermatology, Clinical Center of Serbia, Belgrade, Serbia.
authors: Jelena
authors: J
authors: Perić
authors: Natasa
authors: N
authors: Maksimović
authors: Janko
authors: J
authors: Janković
authors: Biljana
authors: B
authors: Mijović
authors: Vesna
authors: V
authors: Reljić
authors: Slavenka
authors: S
authors: Janković
mesh_terms: D000152:Acne Vulgaris / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D000293:Adolescent; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D057566:Self Report; D055771:Serbia / Q000453:epidemiology; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires