Impact of vitiligo on life quality of patients: Assessment of currently available tools
Description
How different tools for evaluating the impacts of skin diseases on QoL reflect the burden of vitiligo has rarely been compared. In this study, we evaluated the impact of vitiligo on QoL using currently available tools. Patients with vitiligo completed established questionnaires including dermatology life quality index (DLQI), short form-36 (SF-36), and willingness to pay (WTP). Of the 143 patients enrolled, 34.6% were identified having significant mental stress by SF-36 mental health domain score ≤ 56 while there were only 13.3% patients with significantly hampered QoL indicated by DLQI > 10. Using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, DLQI ≥7 was found to be a more appropriate DLQI cutoff value for identifying mental stress in vitiligo patients. Additionally, the median WTP for treating vitiligo was comparable to other inflammatory skin diseases. Conclusion: There exist discrepancies in the outcomes identifying significant disease burden of vitiligo using DLQI and SF-36, making the current DLQI cutoff score (> 10) for identifying significantly affected QoL inappropriate for these patients.