Ann Dermatol.  2013 Nov;25(4):454-461. 10.5021/ad.2013.25.4.454.

Comparison of the Psychological Impacts of Asymptomatic and Symptomatic Cutaneous Diseases: Vitiligo and Atopic Dermatitis

• Noh S
• Kim M
• Park CO
• Hann SK
• Oh SH

• KMID: 2265056
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.5021/ad.2013.25.4.454

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Vitiligo and atopic dermatitis (AD) are common dermatological disorders which may cause significant psychological and social distress leading to impaired quality of life (QoL) in patients.
OBJECTIVE
We evaluated the degree of psychological stress and impairment of QoL in vitiligo patients as compared with AD patients and normal controls (NCs).
METHODS
A total of 60 patients from each group and 60 NCs were enrolled. Five questionnaires on depression (Beck depression inventory, BDI), state anxiety (SA) and trait anxiety (TA), interaction anxiousness (IAS), private body consciousness (PBC) and dermatologic QoL were used.
RESULTS
The vitiligo patients had a significantly higher level of TA (p<0.01), PBC (p<0.001) and impaired QoL (p<0.001) than NCs, but not BDI, SA and IAS. The AD patients had significantly higher scores for all five questionnaire items compared with NCs. In the comparison between the AD and vitiligo groups, all of the indexes except body consciousness were higher in AD patients than in vitiligo patients: BDI (p<0.01), SA (p<0.05), TA (p<0.001), IAS (p<0.01) and impaired QoL (p<0.001). Exposure of vitiligo lesions was not a significant variable in the analysis of the contribution of clinical variables of vitiligo on psychological stress and QoL.
CONCLUSION
Vitiligo, which is not accompanied by any symptoms, involves less psychological impact than AD, which is accompanied by itching. Compared to NCs, however, the elevated general anxiety and body consciousness in patients with vitiligo suggests that they may be more concerned with the aggravation of hypopigmented patches than difficulties in social interactions.

Keyword

Atopic dermatitis; Psychological impacts; Vitiligo

MeSH Terms

Anxiety
Consciousness
Depression
Dermatitis, Atopic*
Humans
Interpersonal Relations
Pruritus
Quality of Life
Stress, Psychological
Vitiligo*
Surveys and Questionnaires

Figure

• 

  Fig. 1 Comparison of psychological indexes between normal controls (NCs), vitiligo and atopic dermatitis (AD) groups. Beck depression inventory (BDI) (A), state anxiety (SA) (B), trait anxiety (TA) (C), interaction anxiousness scale (IAS) (D), private body consciousness (PBC) (E) and Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) (F). All parameters were significantly higher in the atopic dermatitis group than in the normal controls. The vitiligo group showed significantly higher TA, PBC and DLQI than the normal controls. IAS was elevated in the normal controls compared with the vitiligo group, but was not statistically significant. ns: not significant. *p<0.05; **p<0.01; ***p<0.001.

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