Prevalence and associated factors of comorbid skin diseases in patients with schizophrenia: a clinical survey and national health database study

Abstract

Objectives: To examine the epidemiology of and possible risk factors for skin diseases in patients with schizophrenia.

Methods: All of 337 patients with schizophrenia were recruited from the therapeutic community of a psychiatric hospital and underwent a detailed skin examination. The National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) was used to compare the prevalence of skin diseases between patients with schizophrenia and those without.

Results: In the clinical survey, fungal infection (61.4%) and dermatitis (46.9%) were the most common skin diseases. Clozapine users had a lower risk of fungal infection than those on typical antipsychotics [odds ratio (OR)=0.49, 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.30-0.81]. Obese patients were more likely to have fungal infections than those without (OR=1.93, 95% CI=1.20-3.09), and those with diabetes had an increased risk of bacterial infection than those without (OR=2.0, 95% CI=1.06-3.75). NHIRD revealed that the overall prevalence of skin diseases, including infections, dermatitis, hyperkeratosis, pilosebaceous disease, androgenic alopecia, xerosis and stasis, were higher in patients with schizophrenia than in those without (75.1% vs. 72.6%, P=.01).

Conclusions: The prevalence of skin diseases is high in patients with schizophrenia, for whom proper skin care is necessary to improve their life quality.

Keywords: Antipsychotics; Prevalence; Schizophrenia; Skin disease; Taiwan.