Evaluating quality of life, existence of anxiety and depression symptoms in patients with hand eczema: A controlled study

Hand eczema is a common dermatological disorder which is resistant to treatment in many cases, this disorder affects the life quality of the patients negatively. In this study, it is aimed to assess the life qualities of patients with hand eczema and to determine levels of depression, anxiety and social influence. Cases diagnosed and monitored as hand eczema at the Outpatient Clinic of Dokuz Eylül University Medical Faculty Department of Dermatology and control group consisting of healthy volunteers were included in our study. The patient group consisted of 41 female and 29 male patients (70 patients in total) whose ages ranged from 20 to 74 while the control group consisted of 35 female and 35 male cases (70 cases in total) whose ages ranged from 20 to 86. "Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS)", "Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS)" and "World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQoL- Short Form Turkish Version)" were applied to both groups for the assessment of quality of life. "Hand Eczema Extensity Scale" and " Hand Eczema Severity Index" were used in order to assess severity and extensity of eczema. In our study, environmental, environmental-TR and physical scores were found to be significantly lower in patients compared to control group (p= 0,041, p= 0,041, p<0,001). Average scores of HADS, HADS-anxiety, LSAS-social anxiety and LSAS-social avoidance were detected to be significantly higher in the patient group than the control group ( p= 0,019, p= 0,014, p= 0,025, p= 0,037, p= 0,029). According to our study, impairment in quality of life, an increase in anxiety and depression level was observed in patients with hand eczema compared to normal healthy individuals. While assessing these cases, considering psychological influences into account must be a part of the treatment approach.