Quality of life in patients with vitiligo: A cross-sectional study based on Vitiligo Quality of Life index (VitiQoL)

Background: Vitiligo is a multi-factorial pigmentary skin disorder. Recently, the importance of emotional and psychological issues is proposed in incidence, progression, relapse and remission of vitiligo. There are limited studies conducted in developing countries, which assess life quality of patients with vitiligo. The aim of this study was the application and evaluation of a disease-specific quality of life index in Iranian patients, for the first time. Methods: This cross-sectional biphasic study was conducted on 25 patients as a pilot and another 173 patients as the main study group, in Razi Hospital, Tehran, Iran, 2013-2014. Persian version of Vitiligo Quality of Life index (VitiQoL) was developed with backward-forward method. Based on the pilot study, the validity and reliability were assessed. The Vitiligo Area and Score Index (VASI), VitiQoL, and their relationship, demographic and clinical characteristic of patients were measured. Results: The Mean and standard deviation of the VitiQoL score was 30.5 ± 14.5 (range 0-60 in Persian version). There was a significant relationship between VASI score and VitiQoL (p = 0.015, r = 0.187). Confirmatory factor analysis revealed three important factors within VitiQoL: participation limitation, stigma, and behavior. In subscale analysis based on behavior factor, female patients had poorer quality of life (p = 0.02). Concomitant psychiatric problems, e.g. anxiety and depression, were not associated with QOL; however, they were near to being meaningful (p = 0.06, r = 0.14). Conclusion: VitiQoL is a valid index in estimating life quality of vitiligo patients and has proper relation to disease severity. Focusing on patient's life quality is an important entity in the management of vitiligo patients; relevant supportive group-based consultations and therapies are also important arms when approaching vitiligo. © 2016 The Author(s)

Narrative discourse impairments in Persian-speaking persons with traumatic brain injury: a pilot study

Objective: Studies have shown the presence of narrative discourse difficulties in persons with Traumatic Brain Injury, even those who do not suffer from aphasia. Yet, there still exist inconsistencies among results of different studies, in particular in microlinguistic level. Moreover, limited languages are studied in this regard. So this study aimed at examining these skills in Persian-speaking individuals with TBI. The purpose of this pilot study was to analyse the microlinguistic and macrolinguistic skills of Persian-speaking individuals with TBI to determine impaired linguistic measures in different levels of narrative discourse. Participants and Methods: Fourteen non-aphasic Persian-speaking persons with TBI (9 with severe TBI and 5 with moderate TBI), aged 19-40 years (mean=25.84, SD=5.69) and 61 age-matched healthy adults, completed a narrative task. Measures of language productivity, clause density, verbal-error ratio, and cohesion ratio were calculated. Also, test-retest and inter-rater reliability coefficients were analysed. Results: The TBI group was impaired on some microlinguistic and all macrolinguistic measures compared to their control peers. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that multi-level narrative discourse analysis of Persian-speaking individuals with TBI may be useful for speech/language pathologists wishing to evaluate communication disorders in persons with TBI