Analysis of clinical features of intermittent flushing in patients with rosacea and its impact on quality of life / 中华皮肤科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate clinical features of intermittent flushing in patients with rosacea, and to evaluate its impact on the quality of life of patients.Methods:A prospective study was conducted, a total of 728 patients with rosacea were enrolled from Department of Dermatology, Xiangya Hospital from August 2017 to August 2019. Data were collected by using flushing symptom questionnaire (FSQ) , clinician erythema assessment scale (CEA) , patient′s self-assessment (PSA) and visual analogue scale (VAS) . Clinical features and severity of intermittent flushing episodes, degree of bother and impact on life, and correlation of flushing scores with persistent erythema scores were analyzed. Statistical analysis was carried out by using chi-square test and Spearman correlation analysis.Results:Among the 728 patients with rosacea, intermittent flushing most frequently occurred on the cheek (682 cases, 93.7%) and zygomatic region (617 cases, 84.8%) ; the proportion of patients with a flushing duration of 5 minutes to 2 hours was the highest (484 cases, 66.5%) ; 317 (43.6%) had flushing episodes after stimulation, and 233 (32.0%) had multiple flushing episodes every day. Moreover, 503 patients (69.1%) had an overall flushing score above the moderate level; 412 (56.6%) considered that flushing could affect sleep to varying degrees, of which 59 (8.1%) considered that the impact was severe or very severe; 662 (90.9%) considered that flushing had impact on life to different degrees, of which 304 (41.8%) thought that the impact was severe. Both the overall flushing score and life bother score were positively but lowly correlated with the CEA scores ( rs = 0.166, 0.151 respectively, both P < 0.05) , and were positively correlated with the PSA scores ( rs = 0.518, 0.500 respectively, both P < 0.05) . Conclusion:Intermittent flushing occurs at typical sites of patients with rosacea, with long duration of episodes and high frequency, and affects quality of life of patients, so attention needs to be paid by clinicians.