Agreement between two instruments for measuring quality of life in dermatology

Abstract

Dermatology-specific quality of life measures are now more often used in investigational studies on patients with skin disease. To examine the relationship among the quality of life scores obtained with two dermatology-specific measures. The study included 62 patients with skin diseases, whose quality of life was assessed by the use of the dermatology-specific measures (i.e., Dermatology Life Quality Index-DLQI and Skindex-16), designed for use in all skin diseases. The total scores of DLQI and Skindex-16 correlated strongly with each other (r=0.87; p<0.001). There was also a significant correlation between the DLQI total score and the symptoms, the emotions and the functioning subscale score of Skindex-16 instrument (r=0.53, r=0.77 and r=0.86, respectively). The Skindex-16 total score was not correlated with the treatment subscale score of DLQI; on the other hand, it was correlated with the symptoms and feelings, the daily activities, the leisure, the work or school and the personal relationships subscale score of DLQI (r=0.67, r=0.80, r=0.66, r=0.62 and r=0.68, respectively). Two dermatology-specific measures (e.g. the DLQI and Skindex-16), if used together, could provide complementary information in the evaluation of the quality of life of patients with skin disease.

Keywords

• Skin disease
• quality of life
• DLQI
• Skindex-16