title: Mental health and itch in burns patients: Potential associations.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between mental health and self-reported itch in patients with burns across a 6 month time period and to test the hypothesis that poorer mental health outcomes are associated with increased severity of itch.
  
  
  METHODS
  A quantitative study with three time points for data collection was conducted. Participants (232) completed assessments at 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months after burn injury. The Patient and Observer Scar Assessment Scale (POSAS) was used to report itch and the Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) provided an assessment of mental health across time. Only data from the itch and mental health subscales were used in the analysis. To analyze the data a quantile regression model was used.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mental health is significantly associated with itch after adjusting for variation in itch over time (p=0.001). The regression coefficient indicates that as mental health increases by one unit, itch decreases by 0.03. Of importance, the relationship remained significant after adjusting for total burn surface area (p<0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings suggest there is a relationship between mental health and itch. Given the powerful impact itch can have on an individual's wellbeing health professionals can begin to further investigate itch from a bio-psychosocial perspective. Further research to investigate causal relationships between mental health and itch is important.
authors.affiliation: Fiona Wood Foundation, Western Australia, Australia State Adult Burn Unit, Fiona Stanley Hospital, Murdoch, Australia. Electronic address: sarah.mcgarry@health.wa.gov.au.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: McGarry
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine & Pharmacology, University of Western Australia, Royal Perth Hospital, Australia.
authors.forename: Sally
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Burrows
authors.affiliation: University of Western Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: Tanya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ashoorian
authors.affiliation: University of Western Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: Trisha
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Pallathil
authors.affiliation: University of Western Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: Katherine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ong
authors.affiliation: Burn Injury Research Node, The University of Notre Dame, Fremantle; State Adult Burn Unit, Fiona Stanley Hospital, Murdoch; Fiona Wood Foundation, Western Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: Dale W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Edgar
authors.affiliation: University of Western Australia-Burn Injury Research Unit, Fiona Wood Foundation, Burns Service of Western Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: Fiona
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Wood
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001315:Australia / Q000453:epidemiology; D001830:Body Surface Area; D002056:Burns / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D002921:Cicatrix / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D011537:Pruritus / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Bio-psychosocial; Burns; Itch; Mental health; Pruritus