Quality of life and depression in patients with vitiligo

Vitiligo is a chronic skin disease which is characterized by depigmented patches due to loss of melanocytes. On contrary of low physical impairment, vitiligo causes a lot of cosmetic problems which can lead to psychological problems. The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of life and depression in Iranian patients with vitiligo, who were referred to Razi Hospital in 2009 and 2010. From January 2009 until January 2010 one hundred vitiligo patients were randomly selected from outpatient clinic of Razi Hospital and asked to answer to the following valid and reliable instruments Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), SF-36 and Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI). The mean age ± standard deviation of the participants was 28.9±11.5 years and mean scores of BDI, SF-36 and DLQI of all patients were 15.9±11.8, 63.8±19.4 and 8.4±6.9 respectively. There was a significant relationship between DLQI scores and the duration of the disease (r=0.3, P<0.001) while there was no significant relationship between DLQI scores and age (r=0.1, P=0.2). Evaluation of quality of life and depression in patients with vitiligo and consequences of the disease on patient's lives should be considered.