Psychological Stress of Parents of Children With Atopic Dermatitis: The Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

Abstract

Background: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronically relapsing inflammatory skin condition that has profound impacts on patient and family quality of life.Objectives: To investigate the psychological stress of parents of children with AD in Korea using data from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES).Methods: The cross-sectional study included parents of 8,575 participants under age 19 (970 with AD and 5,733 without AD) from the 2009–2012 KNHANES. Self-perception of stress, depressed mood, suicidal ideation, and diagnosis of depression by a physician were assessed for determination of psychological distress. Results: After adjusting for age, gender, education level, occupation, and marital status, logistic regression analyses indicated that mothers of children with AD showed higher frequency of stress perception (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.458 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.223-1.739], p < 0.0001) and suicide ideation (aOR 1.403 [95% CI 1.099-1.791], p = 0.0066) than those without AD. In contrast, fathers of children with AD did not show a significant difference compared to those of children without AD.Conclusions: Understanding the psychological stress of parents of children with AD is important for clinicians as evaluation, management, and support for parents, especially mothers, of children with AD are required.