Correlation between Psychosomatic symptoms and selfawareness of atopic dermatitis in Japan

Objective: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a skin disease which repeats aggravation and recovery, and the principal symptom is eczema with itch. There are studies that show one of the factors of maintenance and aggravation of AD is psychological stress. Aim of this study was to investigate the psychosomatic correlations between selfawareness and a skin-disease specific psychological stress of AD patient in Japan. Methods: 60 adult participants with AD participated in the survey, and completed questionnaires that consisted of scale of Self-consciousness (public and personal self-awareness), dermatological quality of life measure, Psychosomatic Scale for AD (exacerbation triggered by stress, disturbances due to AD, and ineffective control), and Cornell medical Index (organ systems, and a psychosocial division). Statistical analyses were performed by SPSS ver19J. Results: Main results showed; (i) both public and personal self-awareness had negative correlation with dermatological quality of life. (ii) Public and personal self-awareness had positive correlation with score of PSS-AD, depression, anxiety and illness of alimentary system. The results suggest that self-awareness in AD patients increases psychological stress because skin disease can affect a patients` appearance.