Abstract
Objective: The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of acne, assess its severity and to evaluate its psychosocial effects among university female students in Saudi Arabia.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at the faculty of medicine at Universities in Saudi Arabia. A self-administered questionnaire consisted of three parts included the demographic data of participants, the characteristics of acne and factors affecting it, and The Cardiff Acne Disability Index (CADI). Data were entered and analyzed by using SPSS version 21statistical package software.
Results: A total 297 university female students were included. The prevalence of acne among them was 84.8%. 58% of study population was in the age group of > 20 years. As regarding the degree of severity of cases, most of cases (58.3%) were classified as moderate. It was observed that the most of cases recorded as medium grade of Cardiff Acne Disability Index 45.6%, followed by high grade 42.5 and low 11.9%.
Conclusions: Our data confirmed that the prevalence of acne is high among late adolescents and young adults. And there is a clear association between the severity of acne and dietary factors as chocolate, spicy food, potato chips fried and fast food. Also, the CADI is significantly associated with severity of acne and with its duration. Therefore, we recommend that limit the consumption of these dietary factor, which has a direct effect on the acne severity.