Goode SM et al. (1) have studied in Australia an educated population (244 subjects enrolled, aged 14-17 years). They measured the severity of acne and the psychological state of these adolescents to find a link between the two. These patients were followed for one year and assessed on three occasions (at baseline, 6 months and one year). If they had acne, they were treated. The authors have shown that there is no link between psychological disorders and presence of acne, regardless of its severity.
These results are surprising, discordant with previous publications and ask confirmation. The authors offer two hypotheses to explain the school population is different from all-population acne, effective treatment reduces the psychological impact of acne. You may add another explanation: the methodology different from conventional studies. Most often, this is a population acne when taken without consulting a progressive idea, including psychological assessment tests are compared with a control group not acne. There is no concept of evolution over time. Another study was conducted recently to assess the psychological impact of acne in Finland (2). The authors assessed the psychological state of 165 acne patients and 150 patients with minor ailments of the knees. These patients were all young conscripts, male, Finland.
A moderate to severe depressive syndrome was present in 16 acne patients (9.7%) and 20 patients with knee problems (13.3%), 24 acne (14.5%) and 16 control patients ( 10.7%) had suicidal thoughts. These results show no significant difference. There was also no more link between depressive syndrome and severity of acne. For these authors, the suicide risk and incidence of depressive syndrome are comparable to those of the general population of same age. This work is at odds with the assessment that was made in 2007 in France on the psychological impact of acne on adolescents (3).
This study showed a strong psychological impact of acne with behavioral changes associated with acne lesions: withdrawal, loss of social life and love life, among others. But in this work, evaluation was done without any medical background and do the statements reported that adolescents without measurement scales of the impact of acne. Should, to compare these contradictory results, being able to establish whether there a parallelism between the results obtained by the use of rating scales morale of patients with their statements in interviews.
Dr. Henry Pawin
1. Magin PJ, Pond CD, Smith WT, Goode SM. Acne's Relationship With Psychiatric and Psychological Morbidity: results of a school-based cohort study of adolescents. Eur J Acad Dermatol Venereol 2010; 24: 58-64. 2. Rehn SM et al. Depressive Symptoms, suicidal ideation and acne: a study of male Finnish conscripts. J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol 2008; 22: 561-7. 3. Pawin H et al. Living with acne. A study of adolescents' personal experiences. Dermatology 2007; 215: 308-14.
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