Abstract

ASSESSING QUALITY OF LIFE IN PATIENTS WITH SKIN DISEASES USING SKINDEX 16 QUESTIONNAIRE

Mable Babu* and Raghu M. T.

Abstract

Dermatological disease significantly affects patient’s health-related quality of life (HrQoL). An accurate, sensitive but brief quality-of-life outcomes measure is needed for studies of dermatologic care. Skindex is one of the most frequently used dermatology-specific HrQoL measures. The objectives of our study were to assess the quality of life of the patients attending the dermatology department using Skindex-16 questionnaire and to estimate the sample distribution with respect to age, gender, diagnosis, residence area, educational level, marital status and occupational status. A prospective observational study was carried out on dermatological diseased patients for a period of two months at Dermatology Department of Basaveshwara Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, Chitradurga, Karnataka. A total of 100 patients data were collected among which 40 were males and 60 were females in which infective eczema was more commonly diagnosed. The Skindex-16 questionnaire assessed their bother from experiences; responses were reported as three scales, symptoms, emotions and functioning. For 6 items of the 16-item version 38%, more than 50% of patients responded ‘Never’. Minimum score was 0 and maximum score was 6. Highest score was observed in Infective eczema 62.51. On scaling the score, maximum number of patients had scores within the range of 0-10. Sociodemographic characteristics were assessed and urban residents, highly educated, married and employed participants were more prevalent for the dermatological condition. In conclusion, Skindex-16 are validated measures of the effects of skin diseases on quality of life that accurately and sensitively measures how much patients are bothered by their skin conditions.

Keywords: Dermatology, Health-related quality of life, Skindex-16, Validated.