Quality of life in acne vulgaris: Relationship to clinical severity and demographic data.

Background: Acne vulgaris is known to impair many aspects of quality of life. However, the correlation of this impairment with clinical severity remains equivocal despite various school, community and hospital-based studies.

Aim: A hospital-based study was undertaken to measure the impairment of quality of life of patients of acne vulgaris and correlate it with the severity of lesions.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study in a cohort of 100 patients of acne vulgaris attending the outpatient department of our referral hospital. A physician measured the severity of lesions using the global acne grading system, and patients assessed quality of life by completing a questionnaire (Cardiff acne disability index). A correlation of these two was done; some additional correlations were brought out through demographic data collected from the patients.

Results: There was no correlation between the severity of acne vulgaris and an impaired quality of life. Patients who consumed alcohol and/or smoked cigarettes were found to have an impaired quality of life. While the severity of acne progressively lessened in older patients, the impact on quality of life increased.

Limitations: The sample size was small and there was a lack of guaranteed reliability on the self-reported quality of life.

Conclusion: The severity of acne vulgaris does not correlate with impairment in quality of life.