Life events and quality of life in female patients with dermatitis artefacta: a comparative study with siblings and controls

• Published in: Comprehensive psychiatry Vol. 55; no. 7; pp. 1614 - 1619
• Main Authors: El Kissi, Yousri, Chhoumi, Maha, Nakhli, Jaafar, Kenani, Nesrine, Denguezli, Mohamed, Nouira, Rafiaa, Ben Hadj Ali, Bechir
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York, NY Elsevier Inc 01.10.2014; Elsevier; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Age; Biological and medical sciences; Case-Control Studies; Cross-Sectional Studies; Dermatitis; Dermatitis - psychology; Dermatology; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; Disease; Family Health; Family medical history; Female; Hospitalization; Humans; Life Change Events; Lupus; Marital status; Medical records; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Mortality; Older people; Pathogenesis; Personality Inventory; Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Quality of Life; Siblings; Siblings - psychology; Skin Diseases - psychology; Skin involvement in other diseases. Miscellaneous. General aspects; Tunisia; Young Adult; Tunisia; Human; Skin disease; Life events; Factitious disorder; Female; Sibling; Dermatitis; Comparative study; Quality of life
• DOI: 10.1016/j.comppsych.2014.07.002
• ISSN: 0010-440X

Abstract Background If the severity of dermatitis artefacta (DA) is accepted by most authors, few published studies have sought to clarify its etiology and impact. It is in this context that this work aimed to compare Life Events (LE) and quality of life (QoL) scores in patients with DA, in their siblings and in control patients with other chronic dermatological diseases. Methods This is a descriptive and comparative cross-sectional study carried out in the dermatology department of Farhat Hached hospital in Sousse, Tunisia. Thirty female patients diagnosed with DA according to DSM-IV criteria were retrospectively recruited. For each patient with DA, one of her sisters, the closest in age, was enrolled in the siblings group. The control group consisted of thirty female patients with other chronic dermatological diseases, matched with DA patients for age and duration of disease progression. Assessment was based on Paykel inventory for LE and on SF-36 for QoL. Results Compared to both control groups, DA patients reported more LE with more objective negative impact of these events and had a lower score and more often impaired mean global score of QoL. Conclusions LE would have a role in the pathogenesis of DA which seems to alter the QoL of patients. These results could help to improve the understanding of DA and incite clinicians to focus not only on the diagnosis and treatment of DA but also on the impact of this disease.