Systematic review reveals HRQoL impacts in acute bacterial skin infections, highlighting pain and physical functioning effects.
Background Acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections (ABSSSIs) can diminish patients’ health-related quality of life (HRQoL). We performed a systematic review to determine how HRQoL has been measured in patients with ABSSSIs. Methods We searched MEDLINE (PubMed), Embase (Elsevier), and CINAHL (EBSCO) for articles published between database inception and 14 October 2022, following a prospectively registered protocol in PROSPERO (CRD42021225414). Results We identified 37 articles that employed 42 distinct measures: 26 generic measures assessing HRQoL; 14 condition-specific measures, including repurposed dermatologic or surgical HRQoL measures; and 2 author-developed questionnaires assessing treatment-related HRQoL. We found reduced HRQoL for patients experiencing ABSSSIs, which usually exhibited rapid onset and resolution. Pain had the greatest negative impact on HRQoL, and the most common HRQoL domain impacted was physical functioning. Conclusions Progress has been made in the development and use of HRQoL measures, yet we did not identify a repurposed or novel tool that best captures HRQoL in patients with ABSSSI.
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Norman et al. (2025) studied this question.
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