Self-declared sensitive skin in China: a community-based study in three top metropolises.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the prevalence and the factors related to the sensitive skin in China. METHODS: A community-based study was undertaken in three major cities in China, Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, from November 2009 to January 2010. The participants in the study were screened by cluster sampling, and were investigated by interview at their own homes. A questionnaire, including skin sensitivity, the occurrence of burning, prickling or irritating sensations correlated with the factors, history of skin diseases and skin types, was given to each participant aged over 15 years. RESULTS: Totally 9154 questionnaires were completed (3931 men and 5223 women). The mean prevalence of very sensitive and sensitive skin in three cities was 13% (17.12% in Beijing, 9.10% in Shanghai and 22.39% in Guangzhou.) The mean prevalence was 8.62% in men and 15.93% in women, with significant difference between men and women in three selected cities (P < 0.001). The total prevalence of very sensitive and sensitive skin was 16.44% in <25 years group, 14.14% in 25-49 years group and 9.73% in ≥50 years group. Moreover, 18.54% of participants claimed with dry skin, 16.70% with greasy skin and 8.04% with normal skin claimed to have the symptoms of sensitive skin. CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of sensitive skin in the three cities of China is much lower than that in Europe and the United States. There was significant difference of the prevalence of sensitive skin among three cities located in different climatic and latitude regions and between men and women. The prevalence gradually decreased with the increasing age. The skin sensitivity was associated to the positive history of atopic dermatitis.

Evaluation of sensitive scalp severity and symptomatology by using a new score.

BACKGROUND: Among localizations of sensitive skin, scalp is one of the less known. OBJECTIVES: We performed a study for a better understanding of sensitive scalp and proposed a new score: the 3S score. METHODS: An opinion poll was conducted on 2117 persons, which were representative of the French population. The total score was obtained by multiplying score severity of abnormal sensations by the number of these sensations. RESULTS: About one-third of the population declared to suffer from a sensitive scalp. It was increasingly frequent with age. The 3S questionnaire allowed discrimination among subjects with slightly sensitive, sensitive and very sensitive scalps. Itching and prickling were the most frequent symptoms. Sensitive scalp was sometimes associated with some scalp diseases. Dandruff cannot be considered as a symptom of sensitive scalp. CONCLUSIONS: This study is only the third reported study about sensitive scalp. The 3S questionnaire is a convenient and effective tool for investigating the severity and symptomatology of the sensitive scalp.

The patient's burden of chronic venous disorders: construction of a questionnaire.

AIMS: On the one hand, the survey aims at the development and validation of an auto-administered questionnaire designed to measure the everyday burden caused by chronic venous disorders (CVDs). On the other hand, it aims at reporting initial epidemiological and demographic data in CVD patients and their correlations. MATERIALS AND METHODS: After identification of 66 possible items, the elimination of redundant and less relevant questions left a questionnaire of 36 simple items, the Assessment of Burden in Chronic-Venous Disease (ABC-V) that has been applied prospectively and consecutively to a population of 328 actual chronic venous disorder (CVD) patients in eight vein-specialized centres in France. Questionnaires were completed by patients at home and returned by mail (free return envelopes). RESULTS: Significant correlation has been found between ABC-V, the Specific Quality of life & Outcomes Response - Venous (SQOR-V) and the Centre for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), demonstrating the validity of the concept. ABC-V has been found increased by age (P = 0.0127) and body mass index (P < 0.001), not by gender (P = 0.8758). CONCLUSION: ABC-V is a first tool to assess the burden of CVDs, it provides with individual data and will help, for instance, determining the weight of the coefficient used in the disability-adjusted life year and quality-adjusted life year formulas, thus ensuring an accurate evaluation of the Global Burden of Chronic Venous Disorders.