Severity of acne and quality of life of patients treated at Cameroonian hospitals (sub-Saharan Africa)

Abstract

Background: The aim of this study was to assess the severity of acne and the impact on the quality of life (QoL) of patients undergoing anti-acne treatment. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted from January to April 2017 at three hospitals in Yaoundé. Patients suffering from acne and under treatment were consecutively included. Clinical severity and QoL were assessed with the ECLA and CADI scales, respectively. Data was analyzed with SPSS 23.0. We employed the ANOVA test and linear regression to search for associations between variables. The significance level was at 5%. Results: We recruited 113 patients, predominantly female (83%), with a mean age of 26.0 ± 6.4 years. Mild-to-moderate forms were predominant (74%). The mean ECLA score was 10.1 ± 4.6, with a majority of the participants 74.3% (84/113) having mild-to-moderate acne, while 25.7% (29/113) had severe acne. The majority of the patients found the treatment expensive (69%). Therapeutic education had been conducted in 46.9% of the patients, and 60.2% of them reported a relapse during treatment. An impairment in QoL was found in 99% of the patients. The mean global QoL score was 6.3 ± 3.4. The impairment in QoL was positively correlated with clinical severity (r = 0.40; p = 0.003). Conclusion: The study revealed a predominance of mild-to-moderate forms of acne, an alteration in the QoL of almost all patients studied, and a positive correlation between the clinical severity of acne and the impairment in QoL. Key words: Acne; Clinical severity; Quality of life; Treatment; Cameroon; Sub-Saharan Africa