Comparative study of quality of life between psoriasis, vitiligo and autoimmune bullous disease

Background: Psoriasis, vitiligo and autoimmune bullous disease are chronic relapsing dermatological diseases that affect patients' daily life and psychosocial well-being. Although the impact of these diseases on quality of life (QoL) has been reported respectively, the comparison of the QoL between psoriasis, vitiligo and autoimmune bullous disease patients has not been investigated in Korea. Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare the QoL between psoriasis, vitiligo and autoimmune bullous disease by using Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI), Medical Outcome Study Short Form 36 (SF-36) and Skindex-29 questionnaires. Methods: From June 2014 to August 2016, 150 patients were selected from outpatient clinic of Department of Dermatology of Hanyang University Seoul Hospital. Results: A total of 364 questionnaires were valid, of which 150 cases with the male to female ratio is 1:1.08. By comparing the scores of Skindex-29 between three groups, we found that autoimmune bullous disease was associated with lower QoL than psoriasis and vitiligo (p<0.001). The total score of DLQI was higher in psoriasis group (8.06) than in vitiligo group (4.49) and the scores of SF-36 items showed similar result, which detected a worse QoL in patients with psoriasis than in vitiligo. Significant correlations were found between DLQI, SF-36 and Skindex-29 scores in all disease groups (p<0.01). Conclusion: The results show that there is significant impairment of QoL in these three skin diseases. The high correlation between the instruments used in this study implies that any one of them might be useful to measure QoL.