Correlation between Stress Scale and Severity of Acne Vulgaris

Background: Acne vulgaris (AV) is a chronic inflammatory disease of pilosebaceous follicles with polymorphic lesions, consist of blackheads, papules, pustules and nodules with varying degree of severity. Stress is one of the triggers for acne vulgaris.Aim: This study aimed to determine the correlation between stress scale with the severity of acne vulgaris.  Methods: This study was an observational analytic study with a cross-sectional design involving 100 patients with acne vulgaris. The dermatological examination was performed in each patient to determine the severity of acne vulgaris with Acne Grading Indonesian Acne Expert Meeting 2015 based on Lehmann Criteria, followed by Holmes-Rahe stress scale questionnaire to evaluate stress scale. The collected data were analysed using the Spearman correlation test.Results: Of the total 100 samples examined, the majority of patients with acne vulgaris were 17-25 years old (71%) and most of them were female (68%). The majority of research subjects were classified with moderate acne vulgaris (45%), followed by mild (43%) and severe (12%). Low-stress scale (44%) is mostly found in this study, followed by a medium stress scale (29%) and high (27%). There is a positive correlation between stress scale and the severity of acne vulgaris with moderate strength (r = 0.456; p = 0.001).Conclusion: It can be concluded in this study that there is an association between stress scale and the severity of acne vulgaris.