Temperament and Personality Traits in Patients with Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria: A Cross-Sectional Study

Considering the psychobiological aspects of various dermatological diseases and the role of personality traits in the development of chronic skin diseases such as chronic urticaria, the present study aimed to assess the personality traits of patients with chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) compared to healthy individuals.

In this cross-sectional study during 2016 - 2018, all patients with CSU who referred to Immunology and Allergy Clinic of Ghaem hospital, the Center of reference and excellence in urticaria (UCARE), considered as research community; 100 patients with CSU were selected using the convenience sampling method. Moreover, 100 healthy participants were selected as the control group. Research instruments were Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) and a demographic checklist. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t-test, and chi-square test using SPSS Software version 23.

The patients had higher scores in novelty-seeking (P = 0.041) and harm avoidance (P = 0.015), while the healthy individuals had higher scores in self-directedness (P = 0.003) and cooperativeness (P = 0.001). Moreover, male patients had higher scores in novelty-seeking (P = 0.006) and reward dependence (P = 0.013); however, female patients had higher scores in self-transcendence (P = 0.001) and cooperativeness (P = 0.019). Furthermore, there was a correlation between the disease duration of with reward dependence, self-directedness, and self-transcendence.

Personality traits seem to be associated with CSU. In this regard, patients with CSU had higher scores in novelty-seeking and harm avoidance and lower scores in self-directedness and cooperativeness than healthy individuals.