Correlation between quality of life and clinical severity of melasma in Pakistani women.

Background Melasma is an acquired hypermelanosis affecting the sun-exposed areas of skin, most commonly the face and neck. There was significantly strong positive correlation between clinical severity of disease and disease related quality of life among patients with melasma and warranted routine assessment of melasma. Objective To study was to find clinical correlation between quality of life and clinical severity of melasma in female patients presenting in a tertiary care hospital. Methods This descriptive cross-sectional research was done at Department of Dermatology, Fatimah Jinnah medical university, Lahore including 80 females from 15-50 years suffering from melasma. These patients were evaluated by mMASI score for clinical severity of disease and MELASQoL score for effect on quality of life. Spearman correlation was used to evaluate correlation between clinical severity of melasma and quality of life. Results The mean age of the patients was 32.4±7.5 years. Majority (n=64, 80.0%) of the women was married. Most common type of melasma was centrofacial which was observed in 31 (38.8%) women followed by mixed (35.0%) and malar (26.2%) pattern. 25 (31.2%) women were illiterate while 47 (58.8%) women had matriculation or above degree. The mMASI score ranged from 1.2 to 35.7 with a mean of 15.81±8.87 while the MELASQoL score ranged from 13 to 70 with a mean of 46.59±16.95. There was significantly strong positive correlation between clinical severity of melasma over mMASI score and quality of life over MELASQoL score (spearman correlation coefficient r=0.852; p-value<0.001). Similar connection was noted among different subgroups of patients based on patient's age, educational and marital standing and type of melasma. Conclusion A strong positive correlation was observed between clinical severity of melasma and quality of life among patients presenting with melasma which warrants routine clinical assessment of such patients for severity of disease and associated effects on quality of life so that apart from treatment of disease, the psychosocial aspect of the disease is also addressed which will help in better patient management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]