Sleep quality in chronic inflammatory skin diseases and the effect on the dermatology life quality index

Objective: Symptoms such as pruritus in chronic inflammatory skin diseases reduce the quality of life and sleep quality of individuals. The aim of this study was to investigate sleep quality in chronic inflammatory skin diseases and to evaluate the relationship between sleep quality and personal characteristics of the patients and the disease, and the effects of this relationship on Dermatology Life Quality Index. Materials and Methods: In the study, 200 patients who were followed in the Department of Skin and Venereal Diseases of Çukurova University Medical Faculty between January 2018 and August 2018 were included. Patients completed the sociodemographic data form, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, Dermatology Life Quality Index and Itching Severity Visual Analog Scale. The results obtained from these scales were compared according to their effects on sleep quality. Results: After the exclusion of the missing data, for the remaining 195 patients, 41 had atopic dermatitis, 59 had chronic spontaneous urticaria, 45 had lichen planus and 50 had psoriasis. Variables in terms of statistically significant or close to the significance (p<0.10) after the comparisons between the independent variables according to the sleep quality included: the marital status, skin disease, itching score, Dermatology Life Quality Index, alcohol consumption, lung disease and psychiatric disease. After the multivariate logistic regression analysis, Dermatology Life Quality Index (p<0.001), alcohol consumption (p<0,05) and psychiatric disease (p<0,01) remained significant predictors on sleep quality index. The predictability of the analysis was 69,2 %, the sensitivity was 75,0 % and the specificity was 65,2 %. Conclusion: Increased Dermatology Life Quality Index scores, comorbid psychiatric disorders and alcohol consumption impair the quality of life and sleep quality in chronic inflammatory skin diseases. Keywords: Skin diseases, sleep, life quality