Department of Systematic Pathology, Section of Clinical, Allergological and Venereological Dermatology, University of Naples Federico II, Italy Department of Specialistic and Experimental Clinical Medicine, Division of Dermatology, University of Bologna, Italy Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Naples Federico II, Italy.
J Eur Acad Dermatol Venereol. 2013 Mar;27(3):e276-81. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-3083.2012.04629.x. Epub 2012 Jul 3.
Alopecia areata (AA) is an autoimmune disease affecting about 2% of the population, which has a considerable impact on quality of life (QoL). There are no disease-specific questionnaires to assess QoL in patients suffering from AA.
To validate a new disease-specific questionnaire for AA, named AA-QLI, and to compare the consequent Quality of Life Index (QLI) with the commonly known Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) to verify if it can provide a more comprehensive tool for patients.
A total of 50 patients affected by AA were administered both the AA-QLI, created by us, and the well-known DLQI. With the aim to detect suitable QLI, we propose to use two multivariate analyses: • a principal component analysis approach on the data collected with both questionnaires to compare their capability to measure the QoL; • a structural equation modelling on our AA-QLI to identify which category of symptoms mostly affects the QoL.
The scores of both the questionnaires are quite close, except for a few cases. Statistical analysis shows a higher specificity of the AA-QLI for evaluating QoL. Among the three areas in which AA-QLI is divided, 'Relationship' has a major impact on the QLI, followed by 'Subjective symptoms'; 'Objective signs' has a lower weight on the QLI.
AA-QLI is a good instrument to evaluate the real impact of AA on QoL. It can be helpful both for the physician and for the patient.
斑秃（AA）是一种影响约 2%人群的自身免疫性疾病，它对生活质量（QoL）有很大的影响。目前没有专门用于评估 AA 患者 QoL 的疾病特异性问卷。
验证一种新的 AA 特异性问卷，命名为 AA-QLI，并将随后的生活质量指数（QLI）与常用的皮肤病生活质量指数（DLQI）进行比较，以验证其是否能为患者提供更全面的工具。
共 50 名 AA 患者接受了我们创建的 AA-QLI 和知名的 DLQI 两种问卷。为了检测合适的 QLI，我们提出使用两种多元分析方法：①对两种问卷收集的数据进行主成分分析，以比较它们衡量 QoL 的能力；②对我们的 AA-QLI 进行结构方程建模，以确定哪些症状类别对 QoL 影响最大。
两种问卷的得分非常接近，但也有少数例外。统计分析显示，AA-QLI 对评估 QoL 的特异性更高。在 AA-QLI 分为三个领域中，“关系”对 QLI 的影响最大，其次是“主观症状”；“客观体征”对 QLI 的影响较小。
AA-QLI 是评估 AA 对 QoL 的实际影响的一个很好的工具。它对医生和患者都有帮助。
