Quality of Life Assessed Using Skindex-16 Scores Among Patients With Acne Receiving Isotretinoin Treatment

Importance Acne is a common dermatologic condition and significantly affects psychosocial health and quality of life. An international task force recommended routine use of quality-of-life measures for clinic visits associated with acne management, but this has yet to translate into clinical practice. Objective To assess mean Skindex-16 scores over time among patients with moderate to severe acne receiving isotretinoin treatment. Design, Setting, and Participants A longitudinal, retrospective case series study of Skindex-16 data collected at monthly visits from 57 consecutive patients with acne receiving isotretinoin; data were collected and evaluated between November 23, 2016, and January 22, 2019. Continuous variables were compared using quantile regression. Multivariable linear mixed models evaluated mean (95% CI) score trajectory over time. Main Outcomes and Measure Skindex-16 scores, including normalized scores for the emotional, symptomatic, and functional aspects of having skin disease as well as an overall score. Results Fifty-seven patients (31 [54.4 %] males, with median [interquartile range] age of 17.2 [15.9-18.1] years) in this case series study completed the Skindex-16 at baseline and at least once during follow-up. Baseline Skindex-16 scores were similar by sex but worse with increasing age. Emotional impact was more bothersome to patients with acne requiring isotretinoin treatment than either symptoms or functioning. Improvements of greater than 50% in overall and Emotional domain scores were seen by month 2 of receiving isotretinoin treatment (eg, overall scores decreased from 39.4 to 17.5 by month 2; a decrease of 22.0;P  Conclusions and Relevance The findings of this case series suggest that patients receiving isotretinoin treatment achieve greater than a 50% improvement in quality of life by month 2 and can expect approximately 4-fold to 5-fold improvements from baseline with a full course of isotretinoin. This study shows the potential of routine administration of quality of life measures to assess patient care in dermatology.