Investigation of the relationship between acne severity and quality of life with chronotype differences and insomnia in patients diagnosed with acne vulgaris

Objective: Acne vulgaris is a limited, chronic, inflammatory disease of the pilosebaceous units, which is common and occurs as a result of genetic-hormonal interactions. Biological rhythm is one of the concepts that has come to the fore in recent years to explain both psychiatric disorders and psychosomatic disorders. There are distinct differences between these three rhythms. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between chronotype preferences, insomnia, disease severity and quality of life in acne vulgaris patients. Methods: In this descriptive, cross-sectional study, 151 patients aged between 18-30 years, who applied to Afyonkarahisar Health Sciences University Faculty of Medicine Dermatology Polyclinic between May 2020 and May 2021, agreed to participate in the study and were diagnosed with Acne Vulgaris. The personal information of the participants was recorded in the sociodemographic data form. Six scales called Global Acne Grading System (GAGS), Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), Acne Quality of Life Scale (AQLS), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) and Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ) were administered to the patients. SPSS 22.0 program was used for statistical analysis and p<0.05 was considered significant. Results: It was determined that there was a statistically significant difference between the MEQ scores of the participants, who were divided into 3 groups according to the severity of global acne, as mild, moderate and severe (p=0.001). It was found that there was a statistically significant negative correlation between the GAGS scores of the participants and their MEQ scores (r=-0.225, p=0.002, respectively). While there was no correlation between the participants' ALQI scores and their GAGS scores a significant positive correlation was found between ALQI and VAS scores (r=0.372, p<0.001). When the correlation between the participants' ISI scores and their ALQS scores was examined, it was found that there was a statistically significant positive correlation (r=0.222, p=0.006). Conclusion: As a result of our study, it was determined that having the evening type was associated with more severe acne and increase in the severity of insomnia was associated with decrease in the quality of life. Prospective studies that will examine these variables with larger patient series will provide more information on both the etiology and treatment of acne vulgaris.