Is adolescent acne being treated opportunistically?
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Are adolescents with other conditions being treated opportunistically for their acne by health professionals?
IRAS ID
168179
Contact name
Russell Viner
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Institute of child health (UCL)
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 3 months, 1 days
Research summary
Acne vulgaris is a common condition, present in 80-90% of adolescents (M Taylor 2011). It is known to cause significant psychological distress and can get in the way of confidence, relationships and can isolate young people (V Reljic et al. 2014).
There is evidence that acne in young people is undertreated(Chung).
We hypothesise that young people seeing doctors for other medical conditions, who also have acne, are not having acne addressed at outpatient appointments due to small numbers of anecdotal reports. There is no literature published on this. We want to assess what proportion of young people who are attending hospital clinic for other conditions are having their acne treated opportunistically, and whether they or their doctor initiated the discussion.
We will use an exit questionnaire for young people who have been to any adolescent clinic e.g. gastro, rheumatology, general paediatrics, epilepsy, to ascertain whether their acne was addressed in the appointment. We would bias the results if we sent the patient information sheet before the consultation as it may alter the consultation, so we will give it after the clinic appointment and the participant has the option of filling in the consent form and the questionnaire then and there. We will aim to question all young people attending adolescent clinics in various specialities over the course of a week (estimated 100 participants). The questionnaire will ask what health care practitioner they have seen, whether they have acne, and whether they were asked about wanting treatment. They will be asked whether they would like to have been offered treatment for acne. We will signpost them to GP for treatment and provide a letter to the GP with suggested treatment.REC name
South Central - Berkshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/SC/1450
Date of REC Opinion
9 Jan 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion