AUTHOR=Chen Wenjing , Wan Yue , Sun Yuan , Gao Changyong , Li Jianhong 

TITLE=Prevalence of depression in melasma: a systematic review and meta-analysis

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry

VOLUME=Volume 14 - 2023

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1276906

DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1276906

ISSN=1664-0640

ABSTRACT=Background Due to cosmetic disfigurement, melasma can negatively affect the quality of life and emotional and mental health, further leading to depression.Objective Prevalence rates of depression in patients with melasma vary widely across studies. Aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to estimate the prevalence of depression among melasma patients.Methods PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and Scopus were searched to identify the articles evaluating the prevalence of depression in melasma patients from their inception to July 12, 2023. Studies were reviewed in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and a meta-analysis was performed using the Stata 14.0 software.Sixteen studies met the eligibility criteria out of the 859 studies, containing a total of 2963 melasma patients for this systematic review and meta-analysis. Meta-analyses revealed that the pooled prevalence of depression among patients with melasma was 43.4% (95% CI 30.5-56.2%, Q-value = 808.859, d.f. = 15, p < 0.001, tau 2 = 0.065, I 2 = 98.1%). The meta-regression found that the publication year, sample size and study quality were not significant moderators for the observed heterogeneity in prevalence. Subgroup analysis according to depression assessment methods showed that the prevalence of depressive disorders was 24.2% (95% CI 16.8-31.6%) and the prevalence of depressive symptoms was 45.1% (95% CI 31.2-59.0%). Subgroup analysis by geographic regions showed that patients in Asia had the highest prevalence of depression, at 48.5% (95% CI 26.0-71.0%), compared to other regions. Subgroup analysis by study design showed that the prevalence of depression in case-control studies was almost identical to cross-sectional studies. In the case of OR, the pooled OR of depression between patients with melasma and health controls was 1.677 (95% CI 1.163-2.420, p = 0.606, I 2 = 0.0%).