Impact of multiple extragenital warts on quality of life in immune-competent Egyptian adults: a comparative cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: Extragenital warts (E-GWs) are common benign skin lesions caused by human papilloma virus. Surprisingly, there is no clear data about the impact of multiple E-GWs on quality of life in immune-competent adult patients in comparison to GWs, which have been frequently reported to exhibit a strong negative impact on life quality. Patients and methods: This cross-sectional study investigated the impact of multiple E-GWs on quality of life in immune-competent adults as they are more commonly encountered in daily practice than their genital counterpart in the Egyptian population. Hundred patients with multiple E-GWs (aged 18–67 years, 46 females, 54 males) and 100 patients with multiple GWs (aged 18–55 years, 56 females, 44 males) were included. Cause for immune suppression in the patients was not known. A hard copy of the validated Arabic (Egypt) version of Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) questionnaire was used with permission. Results: The DLQI total scores range was 5–14 with a mean of 11.2 ± 2.5 in GWs and 1–24 with a mean of 13.0 ± 5.8 in E-GWs, which are statistically significant (P=0.009). To our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate the impact of E-GWs on life quality of immune-competent adults. Conclusion: E-GWs can have a very strong negative impact on patients’ daily life. We highly encourage all treating physicians to use the “bio-psycho-social” model when facing patients with E-GWs in an attempt to secure the best life quality for our patients.