Vassiliki Tzanetakou, Theodora Kanni, Kyriakoula Merakou, Anastasia Barbouni and Evangelos Giamarellos-Bourboulis J
Background: Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic, relapsing skin disorder causing physical impairment and severe negative effects on patients’ quality of life (QoL). The current study aims to estimate the impairment of QoL in HS and the role of disease advancement as a worsening factor. Patients and Methods: Fifty patients and fifty healthy controls were sex and age matched and completed two questionnaires, the ‘Dermatology Life Quality Index’ (DLQI) and the ‘SF-36v2TM Health Survey’ (SF36). Comparisons were carried out between patients of different Hurley stage and between patients and controls’ subgroups. The results of both questionnaires were correlated. Results: According to Hurley system,15 patients manifested first-stage HS,13 second-stage HS, while 22 patients exhibited third-stage disease severity. HS patients experienced greater impact on their QoL compared to healthy controls (total mean DLQI score 13.10 ± 1.19 vs.1.44 ± 0.32, p<0.001 and total mean SF36 score 53.13 ± 3.34 vs.79.43 ± 1.38, p<0.001). Elevated score was attributed mainly to bodily pain and embarrassment due to skin disease. Patients with advanced stage of disease (Hurley III) obtained significantly higher score compared to patients with milder stage (Hurley I and II) in both questionnaires (mean DLQI score 18.55 ± 1.51 vs. 8.82 ± 1.3, p<0.001 and mean SF36 score 40.43 ± 4.44 vs.70.26 ± 3.1,p<0.001, respectively). Total DLQI and SF36 scores were excellently correlated (p<0.01, Spearman’s correlation coefficient -0.771). Conclusion: Patients with HS suffer a devastating impact on QoL. The phenomenon is greater within advanced disease stages.