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The levels of depression, anxiety and quality of life in patients with chronic idiopathic urticaria

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Published:1st Jan 2008

Author: Engin B, Uguz F, Yilmaz E, Ozdemir M, Mevlitoglu I.

Source: Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology

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Ref.:J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol 2008;22:36�40

DOI:10.1111/j.1468-3083.2007.02324.x.

Background: Chronic idiopathic urticaria (CIU) is associated with severely impaired quality of life (QoL).

Objective: To determine the levels of depression, anxiety and QoL in CIU patients.

Patients and Methods: This study included 73 patients with CIU, and 34 healthy subjects matched for age and sex were used as controls. The levels of depression, anxiety and QoL were assessed with the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and the World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment-Brief (WHOQOL-BREF), respectively. The reliability and validity of the Turkish versions of these instruments have been examined.

Results: When compared with healthy controls, patients with CIU had significantly higher BDI and BAI scores and significantly lower physical health and psychological health subscale scores of the WHOQOL-BREF. BDI, BAI and all domains of WHOQOL-BREF were unrelated to age, duration of illness, urticaria activity score (UAS) and visual analogue score (VAS). There was a negative significant correlation between all domains of WHOQOL-BREF and BDI and BAI.

Conclusion: Our data confirm that QoL is markedly reduced in CIU patients. Physical health and psychological health were found to be the areas QoL most affected in CIU patients. And also we have found that CIU patients frequently suffer from depression and anxiety. The severity of these parameters was found to be positively correlated with the extent of QoL decrease.

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