Psychological well-being, quality of life and patient satisfaction among adults with chronic spontaneous urticaria in a multi-ethnic Asian population

ABSTRACT

Patients with chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) have an increased risk of psychological distress. This cross-sectional study aimed to determine factors associated with psychological burden, quality of life (QoL) and patient satisfaction among adults living with CSU. Participants completed the self-administered Urticaria Activity Score-7 (UAS-7), Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS 21), Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI), and Short Assessment Patient Satisfaction (SAPS) questionnaires. Multivariate logistic regression was used to determine the independent predictors of depression, anxiety, stress, QoL and patient satisfaction. From a total of 115 subjects with a median age of 42.6 years, range (19–89 years). 60.9% subjects reported moderate-to-severe CSU, 26.1% reported symptoms of depression, 54.8% had anxiety, 40.0% had stress, and 36.5% reported severely impaired QoL. The median UAS-7 score was 20 (IQR 11–27) while the median score of DLQI was 8 (IQR 4–13). The median score of SAPS was 20 (IQR 17–21). Low-income and severe disease were the significant predictors for depression while severe disease was predictive of impaired QoL and depression. Subjects who were diagnosed at older ages and those who required medical leave due to flares of CSU were less likely to be satisfied with their care. (192 words)

KEYWORDS:

• Chronic spontaneous urticaria
• depression
• anxiety
• stress
• patient satisfaction
• quality of life

Acknowledgments

We would like to acknowledge Prof A. Y. Finlay and his team for their permission for us to use the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI). The authors would also like to thank the Director General of Health Malaysia for the permission to publish this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethical approval

All procedures performed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and the 2013 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Ethical approval was obtained from the Medical Research and Ethics Committee Malaysia (NMRR-18-2438-42839) and UMMC ethics board (2018518-6299).

Consent to participate

Informed consent was obtained from all participants included in the study.

Consent for publication

The patients in this manuscript have given written informed consent to publication of their case details.

Availability of data material

The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Authors contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Shin Shen Yong, Suganthy Robinson, Zhenli Kwan, Ee Ming Khoo, Winn Hui Han, Leng Leng Tan, Su-Ming Wong and Min Moon Tang. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Shin Shen Yong, Zhenli Kwan, Ee Ming Khoo and Min Moon Tang. All authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here

Additional information

Funding

This work was self-funded by the authors.