Development and Preliminary Validation of the HSQoL-24 Tool to Assess Quality of Life in Patients With Hidradenitis Suppurativa. / Desarrollo y validación preliminar del instrumento HSQoL-24 para evaluar calidad de vida en pacientes con hidradenitis supurativa.

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the skin with a negative impact on quality of life. Up to now, there are no disease specific instruments in Spanish to assess quality of life in HS. The objective of this study was to develop and validate a questionnaire to evaluate the quality of life in patients with HS. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A multicentre study was carried out in Spain between 2016 and 2017 to develop the questionnaire. Both the conceptual framework and understanding of the patient's situation were considered through a review of the literature, consensus of professionals from different related health areas, and in-depth interviews with patients. The resulting questionnaire was passed to a group of 30 patients with 30±10 days of interval between both assessments. RESULTS: The reliability analysis shows a good internal consistency and reproducibility with Cronbach's alpha score of 0.920 (test) and 0.917 (retest) and intraclass correlation coefficient with DLQI and Skindex-29 of 0.698 IC 95% (0.456-0.844) and 0.900 IC 95% (0.801-0.951) respectively. Cut-off points were established for its use and the instrument was found to be sensitive to change. CONCLUSIONS: The HSQoL-24 is the first disease-specific self-administered instrument to assess quality of life in patients with HS in Spanish. It is user friendly, and easy to score. This study shows that the instrument is reliable, valid and sensitive to change, pending confirmatory study with a larger sample of 100 patients with HS.

Measurement of the Psychological Impact of Psoriasis on Patients Receiving Systemic Treatment. / Medición del impacto psicológico en pacientes con psoriasis en tratamiento sistémico.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The negative impact of psoriasis on patient quality of life can be as important as the physical consequences of the disease. We could assume that clearance of the disease would also lead to an improvement in its psychosocial impact. The present study assesses the psychological state of patients with psoriasis receiving systemic treatment in a psoriasis unit, especially those with mild or no disease involvement. METHODS: We performed a cross-sectional, observational, noninterventional epidemiological study of 2 cohorts (cases and controls). The patients self-completed demographic data and 4 questionnaires (Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, Skindex-29, HADS, and COPE-28 questionnaire) at a single visit. RESULTS: We recruited 111 patients diagnosed with psoriasis and 109 control patients. In self-esteem, the mean and standard deviation (SD) score was 33.5 (4.8) for the psoriasis group and 33.3 (6.7) for the control group, with no significant differences. In the Skindex-29, the mean score for the psoriasis group was almost 3 times higher than that of the control group (30 vs. 11). Significant differences were found in the HADS scores of both groups (12.7 vs. 9.0, P<.001). The mean HADS-A scores were 8.0 (4.78) for the psoriasis group compared with 5.7 (3.8) for the control group (P<.001). In the case of HADS-D, the scores were 4.7 (3.9) compared with 3.2 (3.1) (P<.004), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicate that it is necessary to assess the psychological state of patients with psoriasis, because psychological effects persist even in cases where the disease is almost totally controlled.