Phobic anxiety disorders among patients with acne vulgaris at a national dermatology hospital in Vietnam: Prevalence, clinical phenotype, and associated factors.

Abstract

Acne vulgaris is associated with psychological morbidity, but clinically diagnosed phobic anxiety disorders (PADs) have been little studied in dermatology settings. The analysis comprised 280 patients with acne vulgaris recruited by convenience sampling at a national dermatology hospital in Hanoi, Vietnam, from December 2025 to June 2026. A psychiatrist established PAD diagnoses using ICD-10 clinical criteria; Fear Questionnaire scores were used descriptively to characterize phobic symptoms among diagnosed cases. Multivariable logistic regression estimated adjusted odds ratios (aORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for factors associated with PADs. PADs were diagnosed in 69 of 280 participants (24.6%; 95% CI, 20.0%-30.0%). Social phobia affected 64 participants (22.9% of the sample; 92.8% of PAD cases), specific phobia affected 26 (9.3%), and agoraphobia affected one (0.4%); subtypes could co-occur. In the exploratory adjusted model, PADs were associated with study-specific anxiety-proneness rating (aOR, 6.90; 95% CI, 2.92-16.32), physical comorbidity (aOR, 4.70; 95% CI, 2.30-9.60), acne scarring (aOR, 2.29; 95% CI, 1.04-5.05), and poor treatment response (aOR, 5.06; 95% CI, 2.20-11.62). Clinician-rated severe acne was not associated with PADs after adjustment. In this tertiary-care sample, PADs-predominantly social phobia-were common. Associations with scarring, treatment response, physical comorbidity, and study-specific anxiety-proneness warrant confirmation in prospective multicentre studies using standardized psychosocial and treatment-response measures.