Acne and quality of life in adolescents with pigmented skin in sub-Saharan Africa

Main objective Although benign, the clinical expression of acne can be extremely severe in some cases, altering the quality of life (QoL) of the patient and interfering with the teenager’s personal relationships, particularly in the school environment. We initiate this work with the main objective of evaluating the impact of acne on the QoL of black-skinned adolescents in schools. Patient and method This was a cross-sectional, descriptive, and analytical study conducted in the Lycée Moderne de Treichville in Abidjan. It covered a period from May 27, 2019 to May 18, 2020. We included black-skinned students between the ages of 10 and 19 who agreed to complete the questionnaire without distinction of sex. We did not include students who, although meeting the inclusion criteria, refused to participate in the study. The data were entered and analyzed using STATA software. All P values less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Results The prevalence of acne was 50.6% (86/170). The mean Cardiff Acne Disability Index (CADI) score was 3.85±2.3. There was mild impairment in 68 (79.1%) patients, moderate impairment in 18 (20.9%) patients and no cases of severe impairment. There was a weak positive linear correlation between the CADI global score and the acne lesion rating scale global score with a Pearson correlation coefficient r =0.44 and a P value less than 0.001. There was a weak positive correlation between the CADI global QoL score, the F1 factor and the F2 factor of the acne lesion rating scale grid ( P <0.05). Despite the high number of girls with mild (41/55) and moderate (14/55) impairment of quality of life, the results show an absence of association between the CADI score and the sex of the patient ( P =0.145) at the 5% risk threshold. Conclusion The overall severity of acne impacts each of the items constituting the QoL scale.