title: Relations between the characteristics and psychological comorbidities of chronic pruritus differ between men and women: women are more anxious than men.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although sex and gender are becoming more important in diagnostics and therapy, there is still little knowledge about sex-specific differences in chronic pruritus (CP).
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To compare, taking into consideration the characteristics of pruritus, sex-specific differences in psychological symptoms in patients with CP.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sociodemographic data, data on the clinical characteristics of the skin and CP were documented over a 1-year period in all patients attending the Competence Center Chronic Pruritus of the University Hospital Münster for the first time. All patients completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Student's t-tests for independent study groups and linear regression analyses were applied.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 619 patients (278 men, 341 women) were included in the analysis. Women were more anxious than men, but were not more depressed. A linear regression analysis indicated that depression and anxiety scores in women were related to the average intensity of pruritus during the previous 4 weeks and to a more generalized pruritus at the beginning of CP; older age in women also correlated with the scores on the depression subscale. Interestingly, the associations were different in men: scores on the depression scale were associated with the diagnosis of CP pruritus with multiple scratch lesions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There are sex-specific differences in the relationship between the psychological symptoms and clinical characteristics of CP; higher anxiety scores were achieved by women. Whether psychological symptoms can be reversed when CP and scratch lesions improve is an issue that needs further exploration.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Münster, Münster, Germany.|Competence Center Chronic Pruritus, University Hospital Münster, Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stumpf
authors.affiliation: Competence Center Chronic Pruritus, University Hospital Münster, Münster, Germany.|Department of Dermatology, University Hospital Münster, Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ständer
authors.affiliation: Competence Center Chronic Pruritus, University Hospital Münster, Münster, Germany.|Department of Dermatology, University Hospital Münster, Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Warlich
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Informatics, University Hospital Münster, Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fritz
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Informatics, University Hospital Münster, Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bruland
authors.affiliation: Competence Center Chronic Pruritus, University Hospital Münster, Münster, Germany.|Department of Clinical Radiology, University Hospital Münster, Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Pfleiderer
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Münster, Münster, Germany.|Competence Center Chronic Pruritus, University Hospital Münster, Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Heuft
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Münster, Münster, Germany.|Competence Center Chronic Pruritus, University Hospital Münster, Münster, Germany.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schneider
mesh_terms: D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000150:complications*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000150:complications; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011537:Pruritus / Q000523:psychology*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012727:Sex Characteristics