Psychological factors are important in many patients with chronic pruritus; yet all patients cannot be given psychologic, psychosomatic or psychiatric consultation.

An exploratory study by Schneider and colleagues sought to determine the criteria suggestive of psychological factors relevant for the etiology of chronic pruritus and of somatoform pruritus.

Investigators made use of data from the database of the Center for Chronic Pruritus of the University Hospital Münster, including the Neuroderm Questionnaire, Dermatology Life Quality Index and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Overall, 3,391 chronic pruritus patients without a psychiatric diagnosis in the history were compared with 331 chronic pruritus patients with diagnoses of ‘psychological factors associated with etiology and course of chronic pruritus’ (ICD-10:F54) or ‘somatoform pruritus’ (F45.8).

The latter group reported more pruritus triggers, particularly strain and emotional tension and employed more emotional adjectives to describe their pruritus. They also reported more often scratching resulting in excoriations, elevated levels of pruritus, impaired quality of life, anxiety and depression.

These findings point to the presence of psychological factors in the etiology of chronic pruritus and somatoform pruritus.

Source: Schneider G, Grebe A, Bruland P, et al. Criteria Suggestive of Psychological Components of Itch and Soma-toform Itch: Study of a Large Sample of Patients with Chronic Pruritus. Acta Derm Venereol. 2020 Mar 12;100(6):adv00075.