Evaluating quality of life, depression, and anxiety in patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis

Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is a prevalent parasitic disease. Despite the low morbidity rate, the disorder negatively impacts the social and psychological well-being of patients. The present study aimed to evaluate the degree of depression, anxiety, and quality of life (QOL) in adult patients with CL. This cross-sectional study was carried out on 217 patients with CL who were referred to the leishmaniasis clinic at the University Hospitals of Mashhad, Iran. Dermatology life quality index (DLQI), Beck depression inventory (BDI), and Beck Anxiety scale (BAS) were used to collect the required data, which was then statistically analyzed with SPSS software. In this study, 28.1% (61) of patients were men, and the mean age of patients was 33.94 ± 16.26 years. The prevalence of clinical depression and severe anxiety was found to be 27.2% and 9.5%. About 54.8% of adults had low QOL. The number and distribution of lesions, disease duration, and course did not affect the patient’s QOL (P > 0.05). Such a pattern was observed when evaluating the patients for anxiety. However, a significant association was found between the course of the disease and the presence of depression (P = 0.03). Depression was not affected by disease characteristics, including the number of lesions, disease duration, and distribution of lesions. The present study showed that psychological comorbidities and impaired QOL were common in CL patients. Clinical characteristics of CL were not associated with patients’ QOL and psychological well-being.