THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN ACNE QUALITY-OF-LIFE SCALE - RELIABILITY, VALIDITY, AND RELATION TO SUBJECTIVE ACNE SEVERITY IN MILD-TO-MODERATE ACNE-VULGARIS

We developed a disease-specific 9-item Acne Quality of Life scale that is sensitive to changes in patient-rated indices of acne severity and the psychological morbidity that is associated with acne. Seventy pat ients with mild to moderate acne vulgaris completed a 12-item scale th at was developed to assess both the social and vocational impacts of a cne, Factor analysis revealed the presence of two dimensions underlyin g the quality of life construct. The first dimension consisted of 9 it ems and addressed the social impact of acne, while the second dimensio n consisted of 3 items and addressed the vocational impact of acne, On ly the first dimension correlated with indices of acne severity, such as pustules and scarring, and all 3 scales correlated with a wide rang e of psychopathologic measures. The 9-item scale had a very high degre e of internal consistency and test-retest reliability. This 9-item sca le may be used to evaluate the relation between acne severity and qual ity of life, especially among mildly to moderately affected patients f or whom quality of life issues are often a major consideration in deci ding whether or not to institute therapies for the acne.