Appearance Self-esteem in Systemic Sclerosis--subjective Experience of Skin Deformity and Its Relationship with Physician-assessed Skin Involvement, Disease Status and Psychological Variables

Objectives: To determine the importance of skin deformity in systemic sclerosis (SSc) relative to other disease stressors and to find psychological correlates of appearance self-esteem (ASE) after controlling for disease status.

Methods: Disease-related stressors, symptoms, physical and psychological functioning, social support, coping styles, cognitions and ASE were assessed in 123 patients with SSc. A rheumatologist determined disease duration, SSc subtype, presence of organ involvement and skin-thickness scores. Stepwise hierarchical regression analysis of disease-related cognitions on ASE was performed after controlling for selected variables.

Results: Skin deformities proved a core stressor of the disease, only preceded by fatigue. Physician-assessed disease status, including modified Rodnan skin score, was unrelated to ASE. Sex, self-reported functioning and symptoms were related to ASE and used as control variables. Both acceptance and anxiety correlated strongly with ASE. The stepwise regression procedure only identified the disease-related cognition acceptance.

Conclusions: In SSc, ASE proved unrelated to the extent of skin thickness. Psychological interventions aimed at boosting ASE should primarily target the psychological factors acceptance and anxiety.