JLUMHS (Jan 2018)
Cardiff Acne Disability Index based Quality of Life in Acne Patients, Risk Factors and Associations
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Acne Vulgaris is a frequently seen dermatological condition having physical and psychosocial implications. Current study aims to assess Quality of life (QoL) in acne patients and study the associated risk factors. METHODOLOGY: This descriptive cross sectional study was conducted in 6 months duration at Dept. of Dermatology, Rawal Institute of Health Sciences Islamabad after ethical approval. Total 205 cases of acne (age>12 years) were included. Patients with severe systemic illness and endocrine disease were excluded. Global Acne Grading Scale (GAGS) was used to grade acne as mild, moderate or severe. Quality of life assessed by Cardiff Acne disability index (CADI) with outcome as no impairment, mild impairment, moderate impairment or severe impairment. Data analyzed via SPSS version 17 with Chi-square test applied for significance. The p-value <0.05 considered to be statistically significant. RESULTS: Among 205 acne cases (24% males and 76% females), mean age was 25+5.7 (14-36) years. As per GAGS score; mild acne was present in 45.4%, moderate acne(44%), severe acne (8.35%) and very severe acne (2.4%). As per CADI score, there was no impairment in 7.3%, mild mpairment (19.5%), moderate impairment (61%) and severe impairment in (12%). The impaired QoL was found to be associated with gender, socioeconomic class, education, acne grade, obesity and use of alternative medicine (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Acne vulgaris significantly impairs QoL in adolescents to varying degrees. Higher grade of acne, female gender, obesity, illiteracy and poverty are the proposed risk factors for impaired QoL in acne cases. Early identification of acne cases at risk of impaired Qol may be helpful to take QoL measures like counseling and psychological intervention in parallel with medical management. This may improve the social and psychological wellbeing of acne cases.
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