Open J Psychiatry Allied Sci. 2020 Jul 28. Epub ahead of print.

Relation of depression and anxiety with severity of acne vulgaris and quality of life.

Jana AK, Sengupta S, Ghosh A, Chakraborty S.

Abstract

Background and aims: Depression and anxiety in acne vulgaris (AV) patients are not necessarily caused by isotretinoin, rather they could be caused by the condition itself. The current study attempted to disentangle the effects of AV and medications used for its treatment on depression and anxiety. Its aims were to detect how depression and anxiety are related to severity of AV and how they influence the quality of life. Methods: Sixty-nine consecutive drug naïve AV patients, meeting inclusion criteria, were assessed. Sociodemographic and clinical data were gathered using a specially designed proforma. AV severity was measured by Global Acne Grading Scale. Anxiety and depression were assessed by Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Quality of life was assessed through World Health Organization quality of life scale (abbreviated). The groups (with or without anxiety or depression) were compared using Mann-Whitney U and Fisher’s exact test. Results: Eleven (15.94%) patients had syndromal anxiety and four (5.79%) had syndromal depression. Patients with anxiety, unlike those with depression, had significantly more severe AV (p=0.01), worse quality of life scores in all the subscales compared to their non-anxious counterparts. Conclusions: Anxiety is more prevalent in untreated AV than depression and is associated with significantly higher severity of the condition. It also adversely influences the quality of life in this population. Depression, though marginally worsens the quality of life in this population, does not however influence the severity of AV. The study was limited by its cross-sectional design.

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