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European Journal of Dermatology

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The impact of nail disorders on quality of life Volume 23, numéro 3, May-June 2013

Auteurs
University of Athens Medical School, 2nd Department of Dermatology, Attikon Hospital, 1 Rimini str, 12462 Xaidari, Greece, Athens University of Economic and Business, Patision 76, 10434 Athens, Greece

Background: Nail disorders have considerable psychological impact and may limit activity by impairing functionality of both fingers and toes Objective: To evaluate the impact of nails disorders on quality of life (QoL). Methods: 1063 patients with nail disorders completed an anonymous nail-specific QoL questionnaire consisting of 24 and 16 questions, respectively, for fingernails and toenails with five possible responses to each question. A score of 1-5 was given to each response and the final score was adjusted on a percentile scale. The subjects were classified in groups according to nail disorders. Statistical analysis was carried out using T-test to compare the means between two groups and ANOVA analysis of variance to compare the impact of quality of life on the different types of nail disorders. Results: Comparison between groups showed a statistically significant higher impact for trauma, onychomycosis, other infections, structure abnormalities, psoriasis, other inflammatory diseases and paronychia and a lower impact for chromonychias and tumours. QoL was statistically significantly more affected in patients having multiple nails involved, women, and in people aged 60-79 years. There was no statistically significant difference on the QoL impact between patients having only fingernails or only toenails involved. Conclusion: Even though published literature tends to focus on the impact of nail psoriasis and onychomycosis on QoL, other nail disorders cause similar frustration to patients. A possible explanation for this is that appearance of the nail has a more significant impact on QoL than the severity of the disorder.