Impact of facial and truncal acne on quality of life: A multi-country population-based surveyCapsule Summary

• Main Authors: Jerry Tan, MD, Stefan Beissert, MD, Fran Cook-Bolden, MD, Rajeev Chavda, MD, Julie Harper, MD, Adelaide Hebert, MD, Edward Lain, MD, MBA, Alison Layton, MBChB, Marco Rocha, MD, PhD, Jonathan Weiss, MD, Brigitte Dréno, MD, PhD
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2021-06-01
• Series: JAAD International
• Subjects: CompAQ; dermatology life quality index (DLQI); facial acne; patient-reported outcomes; quality of life; truncal acne
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S266632872100016X

Background: Acne confers an increased risk of physical, psychiatric, and psychosocial sequelae, potentially affecting multiple dimensions of health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Morbidity associated with truncal acne is poorly understood. Objective: To determine how severity and location of acne lesions impact the HRQoL of those who suffer from it. Methods: A total of 694 subjects with combined facial and truncal acne (F+T) and 615 with facial acne only (F) participated in an online, international survey. Participants self-graded the severity of their acne at different anatomical locations and completed the dermatology life quality index (DLQI). Results: The F+T participants were twice as likely to report “very large” to “extremely large” impact on HRQoL (ie, DLQI > 10 and children's DLQI [CDLQI] > 12) as compared with the F participants (DLQI: odds ratio [OR] 1.61 [95% confidence interval {CI} 1.02-2.54]; CDLQI: OR 1.86 [95% CI 1.10-3.14]). The impact of acne on HRQoL increased with increasing acne severity on the face (DLQI and CDLQI P values = .001 and .017, respectively), chest (P = .003; P = .008), and back (P = .001; P = .028). Limitations: Temporal evaluation of acne impact was not estimated. Conclusions: Facial and truncal acne was associated with a greater impact on HRQoL than facial acne alone. Increasing severity of truncal acne increases the adverse impact on HRQoL irrespective of the severity of facial acne.