The Impact of COVID-19 on Hyperhidrosis Patients in the Mental Health and Quality of Life: A Web-Based Surveillance Study

Abstract

Background: We aimed to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the degree of depression among hyperhidrosis patients and their quality of life. Methods: 222 patients were contacted through an online questionnaire. Patients reported quality of life (QoL), including treatment and changes in symptoms during the pandemic, and also responded to the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) to evaluate the severity of depression. Those were compared with the result from the general population. Spearman correlation and multiple linear regression were performed to identify the factors related to the PHQ-9 score. Results: Half of the patients were female. The mean PHQ-9 score (5.25) of hyperhidrosis patients was higher than the general population, and female patients displayed significantly higher PHQ-9 scores than males (p = 0.002). QoL was impaired more in females. About 10% of patients experienced worsening symptoms, and 30% had difficulties getting appropriate management. Significant negative correlations were found between the PHQ-9 and age or disease duration. Predictive factors for the PHQ-9 were female (p = 0.006) and facial hyperhidrosis (p = 0.024). Conclusions: The level of depression among hyperhidrosis patients was higher than the general population during the COVID-19 pandemic; female and facial hyperhidrosis patients need much more psychiatric attention. Though hyperhidrosis is classified as benign and often neglected by clinicians, we need to give more awareness to the mental burden imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Impact of Hyperhidrosis on Quality of Life: A Review of the Literature

“…Anxiety and depression were also found in patients with primary HH pre-sympathectomy [ 11 ]. During the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, patients reported higher levels of depression compared with the general population [ 12 ]. Heiskanen et al found that depression was a common comorbidity in 511 patients with localized (11.6%) and generalized HH (28.6%) [ 13 ].…”

“…CH after sympathectomy is associated with anxiety and worse QoL. Woo et al 2022 [ 12 ] PHQ-9 Survey study, cross-sectional 222 Mean PHQ-9 score was 5.25 among patients with HH, which was higher than the general population during the COVID-19 pandemic. 10% of patients had progressively worsening symptoms and 30% had difficulty obtaining treatment.…”