The Prevalence of Psychiatric Comorbidity in Patients with Prurigo Nodularis

Prurigo nodularis (PN) is a chronic, recalcitrant itchy dermatosis. It is supposed to be associated with psychological factors, but research in this area is scarce.

To study the prevalence and determinants of psychiatric morbidity, and the phenomenology of itch in PN.

This study was carried out in the outpatient service of the Department of Dermatology. Purposive sampling was used to recruit 50 patients each with PN, chronic urticaria (CU), and vitiligo (V). A one-time cross-sectional assessment was carried out on the participants. Psychiatric morbidity was assessed using Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview and Patient Health Questionnaire-9.

The three groups were comparable on socio-demographic parameters. The prevalence of any psychiatric disorder (current or lifetime) was 48%, 42%, and 58% in the PN, CU, and V groups, respectively (P = 0.27).

The limitations of this study include the small sample size and the purposive, non-blind nature of assessments.

Our study suggests that there is significant psychiatric morbidity in PN which is comparable to that seen in CU and V.