Prevalence and Factors Associated with Anxiety among Patients with Common Skin Disease on follow up at Alert Referral Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Background: Anxiety disorders are common in individuals with skin disease. Occurrence of anxiety disorders with skin disease associated with a negative consequence among individuals, families, communities and nations including poor treatment outcomes and reduced productivity. However little is known about prevalence of anxiety disorders in individuals with common skin disease in Ethiopia Objectives: The main aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and associated factors of anxiety among common skin disease in Alert hospital dermatologic clinic, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 2015. Methods: Institutional based cross sectional study was conducted at Alert hospital, May 2015. A total of 618 patients of skin disease who were on regular follow up were recruited to the study. Anxiety was assessed through face to face interviews by trained psychiatry nurses using the hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS). The data entry, clearance and analysis were carried out using SPSS version 20 statistical software package. p-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant in this study. Result: The prevalence of anxiety was 37.4% with 95% confidence interval (33.7, 41.3). Of the study participants being females (AOR=1.58, 95% CI 1.08, 2.32), type of skin disease psoriasis (AOR=1.86, 95% CI 1.07, 3.23) and acne (AOR=1.84, 95% CI 1.04, 3.25), site of infection on facial area (AOR=4.99, 95% CI 1.43, 17.42), duration of illness less than six months (AOR=1.72, 95% CI 1.17, 2.53), poor social support (AOR=4.47, 95% CI 1.56, 12.85) and perceived stigma (AOR=6.99, 95% CI 4.64, 10.53) had statistically significant association of anxiety with p-value <0.05. Conclusion and Recommendation: Prevalence of anxiety was found to be high on people living with common skin problem. Being female, type of common skin infection, site of infection, duration of illness, poor social support and perceived stigma had positive association factors for the development of anxiety disorder. The strengthening of screening and treatment of anxiety symptom in dermatological care unit should be an integral component.