Fabbrocini G, Panariello L, De Vita V, Vincenzi C, Lauro C, Nappo D, Ayala F, Tosti A. Quality of life in alopecia areata: a disease-specific questionnaire.
J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol 2012;
27:e276-81. [PMID:
22759244 DOI:
10.1111/j.1468-3083.2012.04629.x]
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Abstract
BACKGROUND
Alopecia areata (AA) is an autoimmune disease affecting about 2% of the population, which has a considerable impact on quality of life (QoL). There are no disease-specific questionnaires to assess QoL in patients suffering from AA.
OBJECTIVE
To validate a new disease-specific questionnaire for AA, named AA-QLI, and to compare the consequent Quality of Life Index (QLI) with the commonly known Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) to verify if it can provide a more comprehensive tool for patients.
METHODS
A total of 50 patients affected by AA were administered both the AA-QLI, created by us, and the well-known DLQI. With the aim to detect suitable QLI, we propose to use two multivariate analyses: • a principal component analysis approach on the data collected with both questionnaires to compare their capability to measure the QoL; • a structural equation modelling on our AA-QLI to identify which category of symptoms mostly affects the QoL.
RESULTS
The scores of both the questionnaires are quite close, except for a few cases. Statistical analysis shows a higher specificity of the AA-QLI for evaluating QoL. Among the three areas in which AA-QLI is divided, 'Relationship' has a major impact on the QLI, followed by 'Subjective symptoms'; 'Objective signs' has a lower weight on the QLI.
CONCLUSION
AA-QLI is a good instrument to evaluate the real impact of AA on QoL. It can be helpful both for the physician and for the patient.
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