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Resilience training may improve depressive symptoms in hidradenitis suppurativa

Associations between resilience and depression in patients with hidradenitis suppurativa indicated that improving resilience may improve patient quality of life by mitigating depression, according to recent findings.

The cross-sectional survey study included 154 patients who had visited one of two participating referral centers for hidradenitis suppurativa between June 1, 2016, and Mar. 31, 2017. The researchers assessed potential associations between resilience, depression and health-related quality of life in patients with this condition. Specifically, they suggested that mitigating negative stressors may improve resilience and, consequently, depressive symptoms.

The study was conducted in the U.S. and Denmark. Four questionnaires were used for the survey, including a sociodemographic and clinical characteristics questionnaire; the Brief Resilient Coping Scale; the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale; and the Dermatology Life Quality Index.

White women comprised 84.4% of the cohort.

Depression was reported in 37.5% of the cohort, while 20.8% reported borderline depressive symptoms, according to the findings.

Severity of hidradenitis suppurativa as reported by patients accounted for 27% of variation in the health-related quality of life score. Depression accounted for 10% of this score.

A significant interaction term was observed between resilience and depression, which the researchers suggested indicates that resilience mitigates depressive symptoms. “Analysis of the mediation effects of resilience was not significant, indicating that resilience did not mediate the association between depressive symptoms and [health-related quality of life],” the researchers wrote.

There was an association between resilience score and depressive symptoms (regression coefficient a = 0.21; P < .001), according to the findings. Similarly, the depressive symptoms score (c = 0.637; P < .001) was linked with lower health-related quality of life. (c = 0.644; P < .001).

There was no significant direct or indirect association between resilience and health-related quality of life.

“Patients with higher resilience levels experienced a smaller decrease in [health-related quality of life] as depressive symptoms increased,” the researchers concluded. “Because the findings suggest that resilience can be taught, there is an opportunity to develop a resiliency training program and investigate its role in stress levels and depressive symptoms, as well as in [health-related quality of life] and disease activity.” – by Rob Volansky

Disclosure: The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.