ArticleBMJ open2017
Help-seeking behaviours, opportunistic treatment and psychological implications of adolescent acne: cross-sectional studies in schools and hospital outpatient departments in the UK.
Article in BMJ open, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Burden of Acne Vulgaris on Health-Related Quality of Life and Psychosocial Well-Being Domains: A Systematic Review.American journal of clinical dermatology · 2026Pooled it
- Psychological Factors to Consider in Treating Patients with Acne Vulgaris.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Review
- Planning and optimizing a digital self-management support intervention: Acne Care Online.British journal of health psychology · 2025Article
- Self-care methods use for acne treatment among health science students.Exploratory research in clinical and social pharmacy · 2025Article
- Healthcare use before paediatric multiple sclerosis onset differs by age and sex: a nationwide cohort study.BMJ neurology open · 2025Article
- A microRNA focus on acne.Dermatology reports · 2024Article
- Identification of differentially methylated genes for severe acne by genome-wide DNA methylation and gene expression analysis.Epigenetics · 2023Article
- Understanding the impact of acne vulgaris and associated psychological distress on self-esteem and quality of life via regression modeling with CADI, DLQI, and WHOQoL.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions of hidradenitis suppurativa among young adults in Singapore.JAAD international · 2023Article
- Pharmacist Prescriptive Authority for Acne: An Evidence-Based Approach to Policy.Innovations in pharmacy · 2021Review
- Unmet health need and perceived barriers to health care among adolescents living in a rural area.Children's health care : journal of the Association for the Care of Children's Health · 2021Article
- Acne vulgaris: prevalence, severity, and impact on quality of life and self-esteem among Egyptian adolescents.The Journal of the Egyptian Public Health Association · 2020Article
- The Role of Medication in Supporting Emotional Wellbeing in Young People with Long-Term Needs.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAcne vulgaris (acne) is a common adolescent skin condition. It is associated with negative psychological impacts and sufferers do not easily seek help, hence is undertreated.
objectivesWe investigated the self-reported prevalence, severity and psychological sequelae of acne, together with assessing help-seeking behaviour and its barriers, in separate school and hospital samples. We explored opportunistic treatment by paediatricians.
methodsSelf-reported survey with participants drawn from: (1) 120 adolescents aged 13-18 in a London tertiary paediatric outpatient department and (2) 482 adolescents from two London schools, aged 11-18. Adolescents confidentially and anonymously completed a questionnaire (paper or online) and those with acne completed the Cardiff Acne Disability Index (CADI) questionnaire. OUTCOME MEASURES: To explore if acne is being addressed opportunistically in outpatient appointments and the behaviours associated with seeking help and psychological implications of acne.
resultsAcne prevalence was reported as 58.3% in the clinic and 42.3% in schools, with 34.3% and 20.6% of participants having moderate acne (MA) or severe acne (SA), respectively. The correlation between acne severity and CADI was significant (regression coefficient=4.86, p<0.005 (MA) and 9.08, p<0.005 (SA) in the hospital; 1.92, p<0.001 (MA) and 7.41, p<0.005 (SA) in schools). Severity of acne was associated with increased likelihood of seeing a doctor in both samples (OR=8.95, 2.79-28.70 (MA) in the clinic and 1.31, 1.30-2.90 (MA) and 3.89, 0.66-22.98 (SA) in the community). Barriers to help seeking included embarrassment and believing doctors were unapproachable. Doctors addressed acne opportunistically in 2.9% of the sample, although 16.7% of those with MA and SA wished their doctor had raised it.
conclusionAcne is common and has negative psychological implications, correlating with severity. Young people often forego seeking help and hospital clinicians rarely address acne opportunistically. Further work is needed to investigate how to reduce barriers to help seeking for acne.
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