Correlation between quality of life and clinical severity of melasma in Pakistani women

Abstract

Background: Melasma is an acquired hyper melanosis affecting the sun-exposed areas of skin, most commonly the face and neck. Recent studies claimed that there was significantly strong positive correlation between clinical severity of disease and disease related quality of life among patients with melasma and warranted routine assessment of melasma patients for quality of life to choose appropriate treatments based on realistic expectations on efficacy and in turn better patient compliance. Objective: The objective of this study was to study the correlation between quality of life and clinical severity of melasma in female patients presenting in a tertiary care hospital. Methadology: This descriptive cross-sectional research  was conducted at Department of Dermatology, Fatimah Jinnah medical university,Lahore including 80 females from 15-50 years suffering from melasma. These patients were evaluated by m MASI score for clinical severity of disease and MELASQoL score for effect on quality of life. Spearman correlation was used to assess correlation between clinical severity of melasma and quality of life. Results: The mean age of the patients was 32.4±7.5 years. Majority (n=64, 80.0%) of the women was married. Most frequent type of melasma was centrofacial which was observed in 31 (38.8%) women followed by mixed (35.0%) and malar (26.2%) pattern. 25 (31.2%) women were illiterate while 47 (58.8%) women had matriculation or above degree. The mMASI score ranged from 1.2 to 35.7 with a mean of 15.81±8.87 while the MELASQoL score ranged from 13 to 70 with a mean of 46.59±16.95. There was significantly strong positive correlation between clinical severity of melasma over mMASI score and quality of life over MELASQoL score (spearman correlation coefficient r=0.852; p-value<0.001). Similar correlation was observed across various subgroups of patients based on patient’s age, educational and marital status and type of melasma. Conclusion: A strong positive correlation was observed between clinical severity of melasma and quality of life among patients presenting with melasma which warrants routine clinical assessment of such patients for severity of disease and associated effects on quality of life so that in addition to clinical management of disease, the psychosocial aspect of the disease is also addressed which will help in better patient management . Key words: Melasma, Correlation, Clinical Severity, Quality of Life