Anxiety and Depression in Patients with Alopecia Areata in Eskisehir, Turkey

Comparing quality of life, anxiety, depression, sleep disturbance, and associated factors in vitiligo and alopecia areata patients

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES

Vitiligo and alopecia areata (AA) are two autoimmune skin diseases that affect patients' quality of life (QoL) and give rise to psychosocial complications, such as depression, negative self-image, less joyful social engagements, and low self-esteem. These two disorders have common and uncommon characteristics. Therefore, in this study, we tried to evaluate the similarities and differences in the psychological parameters including quality of life, sleep disturbance, anxiety, and depression levels between, vitiligo and AA patients.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Patients with either vitiligo or AA visiting the outpatient dermatology clinic from November 2017 to December 2020 have been included in this study. Persian versions of three questionnaires including the dermatology life quality index (DLQI), hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS), and Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI), have been used to assess the QoL, sleep disturbance, anxiety, and depression levels in patients.

RESULTS

In total, 188 patients, including 94 (50%) cases of AA and 94 (50%) patients with vitiligo, met the criteria. In AA patients, a significantly higher DLQI score was found (p-value = 0.002) compared to the vitiligo cases, which means a better QoL in vitiligo patients. Additionally, AA patients had higher scores of anxiety (P-value<0.001) and depression (p-Value<0.001). However, sleep disturbance (64.9% of AA patients vs. 59.3% of vitiligo patients; p-Value = 0.4888) was not significantly different between the two groups.

CONCLUSIONS

Our data showed lower QoL and higher levels of anxiety and depression in AA patients compared to vitiligo cases, but no difference was seen in sleep disturbance in the PSQI-P score.

Evaluation of quality of life scores and family impact scales in pediatric patients with alopecia areata: a cross-sectional cohort study

BACKGROUND

There are a limited number of studies evaluating the effects of alopecia areata (AA) on the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of pediatric patients and their families. This study aimed to assess the HRQoL of pediatric patients with AA and their parents.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This single-center cross-sectional cohort study included 72 pediatric patients diagnosed with AA. The study was conducted between December 2020 and December 2021 in the dermatology department of a single tertiary center in Turkey. The HRQoL index of the pediatric patients was assessed with the Children's Dermatology Life Quality Index (CDLQI). At the same time, their parents, who were primarily involved in the disease process, were evaluated using the Dermatological Family Impact Scale (DeFIS). An ordinal logistic regression model was used to detect predictors for CDLQI severity.

RESULTS

The mean ± SD CDLQI of the pediatric patients who participated in our study was 8.4 ± 5.3, corresponding to moderate impairment. The highest impairment in CDLQI was observed in the symptoms and feelings domain, while the slightest impairment was observed in the domain of personal relationships (P < 0.001). There was a statistically significant positive correlation between the Severity of Alopecia Tool (SALT) score and all CDLQI domains, and the most substantial relationship was with the leisure domain (r = 0.78, P < 0.001). DeFIS scores of female patients were substantially higher than males (25.3 ± 8.6 vs. 17.6 ± 9, P = 0.001).

CONCLUSION

Our study supports that AA is a disease that significantly impacts the HRQoL of affected children and their families.