Evaluation of the Psychosocial Burden of Hidradenitis Suppurativa and Relevant Factors: A Prospective Single-Center Study.

Objectives: Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic inflammatory skin disorder in which patients with HS experience profound deterioration in their overall well-being, psychological state and quality of life. This study aimed to evaluate the psychological impact of HS and examined its associations with relevant factors, including sociodemographic and disease-related characteristics.

Methods: A prospective, single-center study was conducted involving 80 patients with HS. The demographic and clinical characteristics of patients were recorded. Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21), Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI), and General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12) were used to assess the psychosocial impact of HS.

Results: A significant proportion of patients with HS had severe and extremely severe scores in depression, anxiety and stress, with 48.75%, 52.5%, and 48.75% of patients, respectively. Sixty percent of the patients exhibited high psychological disorders while 53.8% experienced severe impairment in their quality of life (QoL). Sociodemographic and clinical factors were evaluated for associations with the scales used in this study. DASS-21 Anxiety (DASS-21A) was significantly positively correlated with lower education levels and higher body mass index (BMI) (p<0.05). There were no significant correlations between the Hurley stages and the other three scales, except for the DASS-21 Stress (DASS-21S) subscale. Patients with a family history had higher DASS-21A, DASS-21 Depression (DASS-21D), DASS-21S, and GHQ-12 (both Likert and traditional scoring) scores compared to those without a family history (p<0.05). Additionally, a positive family history significantly predicted higher scores on DASS-21A, DASS-21D, and DASS-21S (p=0.002; p=0.019; p=0.022, respectively).

Conclusion: Our findings confirm that a significant proportion of patients with HS had high or extremely high levels on all three scales assessing the psychological burden of HS. Patients were negatively affected psychologically at each Hurley stage. Family history proved to be a strong predictive factor contributing to impaired psychosocial status among individuals with HS. Thus, dermatologists should provide extra care, especially for those with family members affected by this condition.