ABSTRACT

Quality of life (QOL) measures have been used as assessment parameters in the management of chronic skin diseases. Our aim is to demonstrate the effect of inpatient therapy on the health-related QOL

This study comprised 509 patients with skin diseases. Possible effects of inpatient therapy on QOL were measured as pre/post-treatment differences in Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) and short form (SF)-36 health survey tests’ mean scores

The most common reasons necessitating the admission were severity of skin disease or acute deterioration of disease (46.1%). The mean DLQI value for all patients decreased after inpatient therapy (from 13.08 to 6.94). The mean SF-36 value of all subscales for all patients increased after inpatient therapy except for general health subscale of SF-36. The regression analysis showed significant effect of age, being previously hospitalized, duration of admission on the DLQI scores. While age and being previously hospitalized were the factors to affect some of the SF-36 subscale scores.

Our results indicate that inpatient therapy may improve QOL of patients with dermatological diseases and that clinicians should consider assessment of DLQI to determine the therapy option for a patient