Quality of Life Evaluation in Iranian Postpartum Women With and Without Striae Gravidarum

Abstract

BackgroundStriae are a common change during pregnancy, leaving striae in various body parts after delivery, which most women find unpleasant. They create a big aesthetic concern for most women. Although striae do not endanger the mother and the fetus, they may cause a desire to scratch the region leading to small wounds, induce stress over beauty, decrease self-confidence, and create psychological disorders. They may try various treatments and often refer to dermatology clinics and receive long-term treatments; these time-consuming and costly behaviors and may affect their quality of life.ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of life in Iranian postpartum women with and without striae gravidarum.Materials and MethodsThis cross-sectional study was conducted on 145 women who had referred to health centers of Mashhad to receive post-delivery health care six weeks after delivery during year 2013. Multi-stage sampling was applied to select the participants. The tools used were demographic, SF-36 quality of life, Skindex29, Atwal and Fitzpatrick classification questionnaires. Data were analyzed using the SPSS V.11.5 software.ResultsThe subjects’ mean age was 26.3 ± 5.7. Mann-Whitney test showed there was a significant difference between mean of Skindex29 and its dimensions (P < 0.001), general life quality (P < 0.001) in women with and without striae. Mann-Whitney test showed no significant difference between mean general quality of life dimension, except physical function in women with and without striae (P > 0.05).ConclusionsThe results showed that striae lead to reduced quality of general life and reduced skin quality index in women postpartum.

Striae of pregnancy

“…Вместе с тем те немногие результаты исследований качества жизни пациенток со striae gravidarum свидетельствуют о некотором ухудшении данного показателя [12,13].…”

Vitamin D status and its relation with insulin resistance and VDR-FokI polymorphism in Iranian non-melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) patients: a case-control study

“…However, some studies reported that Iranian skin types, based on Fitzpatrick scale, can be classified as "lightly pigmented", i.e. skin types I to IV from north to south, respectively, based on the Fitzpatrick scale (57)(58) and there is no relationship between skin type and minimal erythermal dose (59). We did not examine any possible association between NMSC and other VDR polymorphisms, including BsmI.…”

Development of a clinical scale to assess the severity of striae distensae

“…Researchers are generally restricted to evaluating isolated characteristics, such as the length and width of the striae, assessing ultrasonography parameters or considering subjective criteria, such as the patient's or physician's satisfaction. [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18] The optimal outcome of SD treatment is its total clearance. 19 As this result is not attainable in most patients with current treatments, objective measures to classify SD and compare the efficacy of therapies are valuable in clinical research.…”

“…There is still no objective instrument that considers all relevant, sensitive, and accurate clinical aspects for the assessment of stretch marks before and after controlled treatment to measure the degree of improvement. Researchers are generally restricted to evaluating isolated characteristics, such as the length and width of the striae , assessing ultrasonography parameters or considering subjective criteria, such as the patient's or physician's satisfaction 11‐18 …”