Quality of life assessment in patients with dandruff and scalp seborrheic dermatitis at a tertiary hospital in Indonesia

Background: Seborrheic dermatitis (SD) is an inflammatory disease affecting seborrheic areas of the skin. Scalp SD varies from mild, manifesting as dandruff, to erythematous lesions with greasy scales. SD negatively affects patients’ quality of life. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study investigating the relationship between quality of life and disease severity in patients with dandruff and scalp SD at the Dermatology and Venereology Outpatient Clinic, of Dr. Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital. SD severity was assessed by the modified Seborrheic Dermatitis Area and Severity Index (SDASI), and quality of life was assessed by the Indonesian version of the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI). Results: A total of 96 subjects with scalp SD were recruited, comprising 86 subjects with mild SD and 10 subjects with moderate SD. DLQI scoring revealed 5 subjects (5%) felt no effect of SD at all on their lives, 10 subjects (10%) felt small effect, 38 subjects (40%) felt moderate effect, 32 subjects (33%) felt very large effect, and 2 subjects (2%) felt extremely large effect on their lives. There is no significant difference between SD severity with the average DLQI score in the mild SD group (8.73 ± 4.9) and the moderate SD group (9.30 ± 6.13), P=0.737. Furthermore, no significant difference was found between the DLQI scores in the male (9.86 ± 4.7) and female (8.18 ± 5.13) groups, P=0.116. Spearman’s correlation analysis revealed no significant relationship between age and DLQI scores (r=-0,104, P=0,313). Conclusions: Our study concludes that SD negatively affects the quality of life.