Evaluation of the relationship between somatosensory amplification, anxiety and depression levels and disease severity in patient with acne

Aim: Acne Vulgaris is a common dermatological chronic, inflammatory, genetic hormonal illness, limited in pilosebaceous locations. Despite being a non‐life‐threatening condition, through its clinical manifestations, acne can affect both the psychological makeup and be triggered by psychological factors ranging from depression, anxiety, somatization to psychosis. In acne patients, health anxiety, somatosensory amplification, depression and anxiety levels may be higher in relation to the severity of the disease. In acne patients, detection the level of health anxiety, somatosensory amplification, anxiety, depression by evaluating psychiatrically can facilitate the process of adapting and seeking solutions in society and family. As far as we know, there were no studies in the literature that evaluated the level of somatosensory amplification and health anxiety in acne patients. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between acne, and psychiatric factors such as anxiety, health anxiety, depression, somatosensory amplification and these scales with severity of disease. Materials and Methods: This is a cross-sectional, case-control study evaluating 123 acne patients and 100 healthy controls at the age of 18–45 admitted to Afyonkarahisar Health Sciences University, School of Medicine, Department of Dermatology due to acne between May 2020 and March 2021. Patients filled out sociodemographic data collection followed by The Somatosensory Amplification Scale, Health Anxiety Inventory, Beck Anxiety Inventory, and Beck Depression Inventory questionnaires. These scale values were compared with healthy controls. All analyses were performed by Jamovi project (2020), Jamovi (Version 1.6.13.0) and JASP (Version 0.14.1.0) programs and p values<0.05 were accepted as significant. Results: All psychiatric scale scores of the acne patients were higher than the control group, and mean scores of the Somatosensory Amplification Scale, Health Anxiety Inventory and sensitivity to somatic symptoms and anxiety subscale, Beck Depression Inventory were significantly higher in the acne group compared to the control group (p = 0.002, p <0.001, p = 0.006 respectively). Beck Anxiety Inventory was a moderate positive correlated with Beck Depression Inventory (p<0,001). Health Anxiety Inventory was a strong positive correlated with sensitivity to somatic symptoms and anxiety and negative consequences of illness subscale (p<0,001). Other of all psychiatric scale scores correlated positively with each other. Mean scores of all psychiatric scale scores had no relationship with severity of acne, age, duration of disease (p>0,05 respectively ). There was no significant difference between the severity of acne and age, sex, duration of disease, treatment status (p>0,05 respectively). Conclusion: Somatosensory Amplification Scale, Health Anxiety Inventory, and Beck Depression Inventory scores were higher in the acne patients compared to the healthy controls. There was no relationship between high levels of somatosensory amplification, health anxiety, anxiety, depression and severity of acne, age, duration of disease. In our study, Somatosensory Amplification and Health Anxiety scores were found higher in the acne patients, suggests that acne patient are seemed more prone to somatization. One should keep in mind that in patients presenting with somatic symptoms may be related to reasons such as somatosensory amplification, health anxiety and depression and we think that an approach should be taken from these aspects for optimal treatment. An interdisciplinary approach comprising of dermatologist, psychiatrist could be more successful management of patients and treatment of acne. Keywords: Acne, Depression, Health anxiety, Somatosensory amplification