Psychological Morbidity Among Dermatological Patients in a Rural Setting

BACKGROUND: Dermatological conditions have an impact on psychology of the patients. There is a dearth of studies regarding this field in Rural population of India. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the psychiatric morbidity in patients affected with Dermatological condition in a rural population and secondary objective is to assess the morbidity in dimensions of Depression Severity and the quality of life in the Emotional Sphere, Physical Symptoms, Psychosocial Functioning. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Seventy three rural patients were included in the study. PHQ9 and SKINDEX-29 was used to assess the psychiatric morbidity and quality of life. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS V 20. Chi-square test was used as a test of significance. RESULTS: Significance has been found for duration of suffering from a dermatological condition and quality of life (p=0.03). Correlation has also been established between dermatological diagnosis with depression severity (p=0.004) or quality of life (p=0.004). In the sub scales of SKINDEX it was noted that overall dysfunction was notably more marked in Emotional Sphere and Psychosocial Functions than the Physical symptoms. Eczema was the most affected diagnosis in Skindex indicating a poor quality of life followed by psoriasis, Acne vulgaris and Seborrhoeic Dermatitis however, It was found that the majorly affected condition in depression severity was Psoriasis followed by Eczema, Acne Vulgaris and Seborrhoeic Dermatitis. CONCLUSION: There seems to be an increased morbidity among the rural population in depression severity and that of quality of life in terms of emotional sphere and psychosocial functioning.