Quality of life of school and university students with acne

Acne may have severe negative impact on different aspects of patient health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Prevalence of acne in university and school students is high, and the HRQoL of students with acne from different countries was studied. There is a lack of studies on direct comparison of HRQoL impairment of university and school students with acne. The Cardiff Acne Disability Index (CADI) was used to assess the HRQOL in university and school students with self-assessed acne. The CADI results from 159 university and 99 school students with self-reported acne were obtained. Mean age of university and school students was 20.99±1.47 (mean ± Standard Deviation) and 14.10±0.51 years, respectively. Reported impact on QoL of university students was significantly higher (3.33±2.26 and 2.76±2.42, P<0.05). Total CADI scores negatively correlated with the age of university students (r=-0.16; P<0.05). Analysis of gender differences of university students showed that negative correlation of HRQoL with age was present in women (r=-0.22; P<0.05) but absent in male students (r=0.05; P=0.77). Female university students reported more severe impact of acne on their life (2.55±2.31 in male and 3.59±2.20 in female students, P<0.01). Our results showed that university students experience higher impact of acne on their life than school students. The highest is the impact on young female university students. We recommend paying more attention to the psychological aspects of young female students with acne during consultations.