Stressful Life Events Correlate to Dermatological Problems

Stressful life events are associated with ensuing development of skin problems, Canadian researchers reported on February 7th here at the American Academy of Dermatology 62nd Annual Meeting.

"We observed a direct correlation between the number of major life events experienced over the previous 6 months and cutaneous symptoms experienced over the previous 1 month by non-clinical subjects," reported study authors Madhulika Gupta, MD and Aditya Gupta, PhD, both of the department of psychiatry, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada.

The investigators enrolled 316 subjects, recruited from the university, local schools and churches. The demographics of the cohort were: 73 male and 243 female, mean age of 38.7 (± 14.8) years, 54% married and 94% Caucasian. Persons with a history of a major dermatological or medical disorder were excluded from this study.

Main criteria for evaluation were major life events over the past 6 months, measured with the Social Readjustment Rating Scale of Holmes and Rahe, correlated to the frequency and severity experienced by each subject over the past month of a range of cutaneous symptoms: burning, crawling sensation, tingling, pricking, pins-and-needles sensation, pain, tenderness of skin, numbness, moderate-to-severe itching, and easy bruising.

The investigators reported that 59.5% reported the scalp as the most symptomatic area; 69.3% reported itching as the most frequent problem.

"The total number of major life events experienced over the previous 6 months correlated with the severity of the individual cutaneous symptoms (0.22 Pearson ratio 0.41, P < .001), and the total cutaneous symptom severity score (sum of all cutaneous severity ratings, Pearson ratio = 0.40, P < .001)," the investigators wrote.

The researchers added that, "This correlation remained significant after the possible confounding effect of psychological factors on cutaneous symptoms was partialled out statistically (partial ratio = 0.19, P = .001)." This finding suggests that this relation holds even if the subject does not acknowledge psychological distress in reaction to the major life event.