Effect of treatment on quality of life in Egyptian vitiligo patients using the Arabic version of Dermatology Life Quality Index

Abstract

Background Vitiligo is a disease that can develop at any time throughout life with an unpredictable course. It is clinically presented as depigmented macules or patches that occur due to malfunction and loss of melanocyte. Objective To evaluate the impact of severity of vitiligo evaluated by Vitiligo Area Scoring Index (VASI) score on quality of life of Egyptian patients using the Arabic translation of the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) and to evaluate the treatment effect on quality of life of Egyptian vitiligo patients. Patients and methods In all, 25 vitiligo patients with more than or equal to 18 years old were enrolled into the study. Corticosteroid cream was topically applied and was combined with Ultraviolet B-Narrow band (UVB-NB) phototherapy. The session of UVB-NB was done 2 days a week for at least 4 months duration. The VASI score was used before and after treatment to estimate the severity of vitiligo. The effect of vitiligo on patients' quality of life was evaluated before and after treatment using the Arabic version of the DQLI scale. Results Vitiligo negatively affected the Egyptian patients' quality of life. The mean of the VASI score was significantly decreased after treatment (P = 0.040). Moreover, the mean of the DLQI scale after treatment (6.48 ± 2.89) was significantly decreased than that before treatment (7.44 ± 3.11) (P = 0.003). There was significant positive correlation between VASI score and DLQI of patients before treatment (r = 0.736; P = 0.000) and after treatment (r = 0.667; P = 0.000). Conclusion The effect of vitiligo on patients' quality of life was correlated positively with the severity of the disease. Vitiligo patients before treatment have worse quality of life than after treatment. The improvement of vitiligo with treatment results in better quality of life.