Prevalence of Acne and its Association with Stress in Female Medical Students
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36283/PJMD13-1/013Keywords:
Acne, Stress, Female studentsAbstract
Background: Acne vulgaris is described as a chronic skin disease involving blockage and inflammation of pilosebaceous units. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of acne and its association with stress in female students.
Methods: This is a cross-sectional study carried out at Rawalpindi Medical University. The study included female medical students of all five years of MBBS excluding lactating and pregnant females and the ones who were diagnosed with skin disorders other than acne. The sample size was 271. A questionnaire consisting of PSS (Perceived Stress Scale) and GAGS (Global Acne Grading System) was used. Data was analyzed by using SPSS and basic statistics and Spearman correlation were applied.
Results: In this study, it was found that out of a total of 271 students, 138(50.9%) students didn’t have acne, and 133(49%) did have Acne. Out of a total of 271 students, 19 (7%) students had low stress, 204 students (75.3%) had moderate stress, and 48 students (17.7%) had high perceived stress. Out of 133 who were found to have acne, 87(32.1%) of the participants had mild acne, 36(13.3%) had moderate acne, 9(3.3%) had severe acne, and 1(0.4%) had very severe acne. An increase in stress severity was moderately correlated (r=0.393) with an increase in acne severity which was not statistically significant (p>0.05).
Conclusions: Almost half of the study population was found to have Acne. A positive correlation has been found between stress and acne indicating stress as one of the causative factors of acne.
References
Ab Hadi H, Awadh A. Study of psychological stress and acne vulgaris among pharmacy students. Value in Health. 2015;18(3):A179-A180. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jval.2015.03.1039
Yosipovitch G, Tang M, Dawn AG, Chen M, Goh CL, Huak Y, Seng LF. Study of psychological stress, sebum production, and acne vulgaris in adolescents. Acta Derm Venereol. 2007;87(2):135-139. https://doi.org/10.2340/00015555-0231
Sutrisno AR, Jusuf NK, Putra IB. Correlation between stress scale and severity of acne vulgaris. Bali Medical Journal. 2020;9(1):376-379. https://dx.doi.org/10.15562/bmj.v9i1.1749
Zari S, Alrahmani D. The association between stress and acne among female medical students in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Clinical, cosmetic and investigational dermatology. 2017;10:503. https://doi.org/10.2147/CCID.S148499
Bansal P, Sardana K, Vats G, Sharma L, Garga UC, Khurana A. A prospective study examining trigger factors and hormonal abnormalities in adult female acne. Indian Dermatology Online Journal. 2020;11(4):544. https://doi.org/10.4103%2Fidoj.IDOJ_500_19
Walton S, Wyatt EH, Cunliffe WJ. Genetic control of sebum excretion and acne – a twin study. Br J Dermatol 1988; 118:393–396. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2133.1988.tb02433.x
Koo JYM. The psychosocial impact of acne: patients’ perceptions. J Am Acad Dematol 1995: 32: S26–S30. https://doi.org/10.1016/0190-9622(95)90417-4
Batool S, Sohail S, Yasmeen G, Iqbal N, Naz L, Shamim M. Acne vulgaris leading to psychosocial problemsamong youth of Karachi. Int. J. Endorsing Health Sci. Res. 2019. Doi:10.29052/IJEHSR.v7.i2.2019.93-100
Parwez S, Zainab SR, Andaleeb S. Self-Esteem And Social Anxiety Among Face Acne Patients In Peshawar. Multicultural Education. 2023;9(3). Doi: 10.5281/zenodo.7719384.
Levy LL, Zeichner JA. Management of acne scarring, part II: a comparative review of non-laser-based, minimally invasive approaches. American journal of clinical dermatology. 2012;13:331-340. https://doi.org/10.2165/11631410-000000000-00000
Clark S. An exploration of emotional distress in adults with acne (Doctoral dissertation, University of East London). https://doi.org/10.15123/PUB.5411
Yadav S, Narang T, Kumaran MS. Psychodermatology: A comprehensive review. Indian journal of dermatology, venereology, and leprology. 2013;79:176. doi: 10.4103/0378-6323.107632
Shah N, Shukla R, Chaudhari P, Patil S, Patil A, Nadkarni N, Goldust M. Prevalence of acne vulgaris and its clinico‐epidemiological pattern in adult patients: Results of a prospective, observational study. Journal of cosmetic dermatology. 2021;20(11):3672-3678. https://doi.org/10.1111/jocd.14040
Kaikati J, Zoghaib S, Kechichian E, Stephan F, Helou J, Sleilaty G, Tomb R. The impact of acne treatment on quality of life and self-esteem: A prospective cohort study from Lebanon. International Journal of Women's Dermatology. 2021;7(4):415-421. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijwd.2021.03.005
Green J, Sinclair RD. Perceptions of acne vulgaris in final year medical student written examination answers. Australas J Dermatol. 2001;42(2):98–101. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1440-0960.2001.00489.x
Kligman AM. Post-adolescent acne in women. Cutis. 1991;48:75–77.
Todoya M, Morohashi M. New aspects in acne inflammation. Dermatology. 2003;206:17–23. https://doi.org/10.1159/000067818
Zouboulis CC. Neuroendocrine regulation of the sebaceous gland. Experimental Dermatology. 2004;13(9):569. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0906-6705.2004.00212k.x
Rasmussen J, Smith S. Patient concepts and misconceptions about Acne. Arch. Dermatol. 1983; 119: 570–572. doi:10.1001/archderm.1983.01650310032006
Sachdeva M, Tan J, Lim J, Kim M, Nadeem I, Bismil R. The prevalence, risk factors, and psychosocial impacts of acne vulgaris in medical students: a literature review. International Journal of Dermatology. 2021;60(7):792-798. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijd.15280
Bin Saif GA, Alotaibi HM, Alzolibani AA, et al. Association of psychological stress with skin symptoms among medical students. Saudi Med J. 2018;39(1):59-66. doi:10.15537/smj.2018.1.21231
Aziz F, Khan MF. Association of Academic Stress, acne symptoms and other physical symptoms in medical students of King Khalid University. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2022;19(14):8725. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19148725
Jusuf NK, Putra IB, Sutrisno AR. Correlation Between Stress Scale and Serum Substance P Level in Acne Vulgaris. Int J Gen Med. 2021;14:681-686. doi: 10.2147/IJGM.S294509.
Li X, He C, Chen Z, Zhou C, Gan Y, Jia Y. A review of the role of sebum in the mechanism of acne pathogenesis. J Cosmet Dermatol. 2017;16(2):168-173. doi:10.1111/jocd.12345
Zouboulis CC, Böhm M. Neuroendocrine regulation of sebocytes–a pathogenetic link between stress and acne. Experimental dermatology. 2004;13:31-35. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0625.2004.00254.x
Shannon JF. Why do humans get acne? A hypothesis. Med Hypotheses. 2020;134:109412. doi:10.1016/j.mehy.2019.109412
Di Landro A, Cazzaniga S, Cusano F, Bonci A, Carla C, Musumeci ML, Patrizi A, Bettoli V, Pezzarossa E, Caproni M, Fortina AB, Campione E, Ingordo V, Naldi L; Group for Epidemiologic Research in Dermatology Acne Study Group. Adult female acne and associated risk factors: Results of a multicenter case-control study in Italy. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2016;75(6):1134-1141.e1. doi: 10.1016/j.jaad.2016.06.060.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Pakistan Journal of Medicine and Dentistry
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the CreativeCommons Attribution License (CC BY) 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
