Association of Personality Traits with Treatment Adherence in Vitiligo

Vitiligo is an acquired, auto-immune chronic skin disorder with different treatment modalities. Insufficient adherence to treatment is closely related to the efficacy of a prescribed treatment, and also, there are some associations between adherence behaviour and personality. Therefore, the study aimed to assess a relationship between five-factor personality traits and treatment adherence in patients with vitiligo.

In this cross-sectional study, patients with vitiligo who received Ultraviolet B (UVB) phototherapy were recruited. The Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS-8) assessed treatment adherence, and personality factors were evaluated by NEO Five-Factor Personality Inventory (NEO-FFI). Data were analysed using t-tests, correlations, and multiple regression.

Among 70 participants, 62.9% had low adherence, 24.3% had medium adherence, and 12.9 % had high adherence. There was a positive correlation between neuroticism (p<0.001) and adherence score. Furthermore, a negative correlation between Agreeableness (p=0.13), Conscientiousness (p<0.001), Openness to experiences (p=005), Extraversion (p<0.001), and adherence score was obtained. In the regression analysis method, only the factors of neuroticism (p<0.001) and openness ( p=0.001), and conscientiousness ( p=0.016) predicted the dependent variable (adherence score) at the significance level.

This study demonstrated that openness to experience and conscientiousness positively affected adherence, while Neuroticism negatively affected adherence. Considering these personality factors can effectively screen poor adherence and improve treatment adherence.