Publication:

Quality of life in patients with acne vulgaris in a tertiary care centre: a cross sectional study

Background Acne vulgaris is a chronic inflammatory disease of pilosebaceous units which has great psychological impact and causes depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem.

Methods It was a hospital-based, cross-sectional, prestructured, questionnaire-based study done in 120 individuals in the age group 12-30 years using two specific HRQoL indices-Cardiff Acne Disability Index (CADI) and Acne-specific Quality of Life (Acne-QOL) to understand the impact of acne on the quality of life.

Results Male to female ratio was 2:3. The mean age was 19.23±1.7. The mean CADI score was 5.3. Majority of the patients had grade 2 acne. Based on the CADI questionnaire, the number of males (61.7%) and females (60.2%) was maximum in the medium score. Grade 1 acne had maximum number of patients showing low score followed by grade 2 acne. Based on the acne-QoL questionnaire, maximum patients were in the 11-20 score range, followed by the 21-30 score range.

Conclusions Acne is not only a cosmetic problem, but also has significant psychological impact. Hence, impact of acne on QoL must be considered in the management of facial acne.