Journal of Psychiatry

Impact of Scabies on Quality of Life and Correlation to Depression and Anxiety

Deniz Ali^* Department of Psychiatry, Sabancı University, Orta, Tuzla, Istanbul, Turkey
^*Correspondence: Deniz Ali, Department of Psychiatry, Sabancı University, Orta, Tuzla, Istanbul, Turkey, Email:

Received: 02-May-2022, Manuscript No. JOP-22-17020; Editor assigned: 05-May-2022, Pre QC No. JOP-22-17020(PQ); Reviewed: 19-May-2022, QC No. JOP-22-17020; Revised: 26-May-2022, Manuscript No. JOP-22-17020(R); Published: 02-Jun-2022, DOI: 10.35248/2378-5756.22.25.509

About the Study

Scabies is a contagious skin infestation caused by the mite Sarcoptes scabiei var. hominis. It affects approximately 455 million people worldwide each year and is still a major public health problem in many resource poor-urban and rural regions of developing world. Recently, scabies outbreaks have been reported in many countries. It was also announced as the most common Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) with skin manifestation according to the World Health Organization list of NTDs. In a study from Turkey, it was found nearly 30-fold increase in the number of patients with the diagnoses of scabies comparing 2017 and 2019 and it was also detected that, approximately 13% of patients were resistant to repetitive topical treatments.

Scabies is known for causing intense itching, as well as social stigma, sleep disruption, and focus and productivity issues. Scabies was found to be responsible for 0.21% of disability adjusted life years worldwide, according to the Global Burden of Disease 2015 study. As a result, scabies morbidity could be linked to both clinical pathology and emotional elements of the disease. Furthermore, with the rising incidence and treatment resistance of scabies, patients' quality of life may be harmed. There are only a few studies in the literature that look at the quality of life of adult scabies patients. To the best of our knowledge, no research has been done on the link between scabies and depression or anxiety. The impact of symptom duration on quality of life was rarely discussed, and just one study found that those who had symptoms for more than 8 weeks had a more severe impairment in life quality.

Recently, scabies outbreaks have been reported in many countries. Moreover, in recent years, treatment resistance of scabies has been remarkable, and this may be a cause of the prolonged disease duration. In our study, fourteen percent of patients had received one of the treatment options at least two or more times and we found a positive correlation between the number of treatments received and the total DLQI. It is possible to say that treatment unresponsiveness negatively affects the quality of life. Relationships between some dermatological diseases such as psoriasis, vitiligo, atopic dermatitis, acne vulgaris, seborrheic dermatitis, hidradenitis suppurativa and chronic pruritus and depression and anxiety were evaluated in different studies. Did not find any correlation between the duration of the disease and the number of treatment with BDS and BAS but we found a positive correlation between BDS and BAS with total DLQI.

Scabies is a common dermatological problem in our daily routines and the factors such as the disease duration, the necessity of repeating treatment protocols, itching severity and contagiousness may complicate the management of the disease. Scabies has a moderate to severe impact on patients' quality of life, and as with chronic skin diseases, depression and anxiety scores increase as quality of life impairment. In this setting, scabies is an important health problem and it should be kept in mind that patients diagnosed with scabies are affected not only clinically but also emotionally, and they can be consulted to psychiatry departments when necessary.