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Psychosomatic Medicine 66:620-624 (2004)
© 2004 American Psychosomatic Society

ORIGINAL ARTICLES

Association Between Poorer Quality of Life and Psychiatric Morbidity in Patients With Different Dermatological Conditions

Francesca Sampogna, BD, MPH, Angelo Picardi, MD, Mary-Margaret Chren, MD, C. Franco Melchi, MD, Paolo Pasquini, MD, MPH, Cinzia Masini, MD and Damiano Abeni, MD, MPH

From the Dermatological Institute IDI-IRCCS, Rome, Italy (F.S., A.P., C.F.M., P.P., C.M., D.A.); and the Departments of Dermatology, University of California at San Francisco and the HSR&D Research Enhancement Award Program, San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center, San Francisco, CA (M.-M.C.).

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Damiano Abeni, Dermatological Institute IDI-IRCCS, Via dei Monti di Creta, 104 – 00167 Rome, Italy. E-mail: d.abeni{at}idi.it

OBJECTIVE: To determine the relationship between skin-related quality of life and psychiatric morbidity in patients with different skin conditions.

METHODS: We recruited all adults attending the outpatient clinics of the Dermatological Institute IDI-IRCCS, Rome, Italy, during 14 predetermined days. Eligible patients, who gave their informed consent, completed the Skindex-29 and the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). We used a stringent cut-off threshold (≥5 on the GHQ-12) for identification of psychiatric morbidity. Skindex-29 scale scores were computed separately for GHQ noncases and GHQ cases.

RESULTS: A total of 2,136 patients were included in the analysis. For all skin conditions, GHQ cases had substantially poorer score in all 3 domains of quality of life, Symptoms, Emotions, and Functioning. Most differences remained significant after adjusting for clinical severity, age, sex, and education in multiple regression models. These differences were not as marked in the Symptoms scale for some conditions known to be nearly asymptomatic (eg, alopecia, vitiligo, nevi), suggesting that, although patients with psychiatric morbidity might be more burdened by their symptoms, nevertheless they do not perceive nonexistent symptoms.

CONCLUSION: In most skin conditions we considered, psychiatric morbidity was strongly associated with poorer quality of life. Although the cross-sectional nature of our study does not allow identification of the direction of this association, care for the psychological condition of patients might have an impact on their quality of life.

Key Words: quality of life, • psychiatric morbidity, • dermatology, • Skindex-29, • GHQ-12.

Abbreviations: GHQ-12 = 12-item General Health Questionnaire.






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Copyright © 2004 by the American Psychosomatic Society