Background: Pemphigus is an autoimmune blistering disease which has a great negative impact on the quality of life (QOL) in many aspects, such as physical, psychological and social status. Exploring associated factors might be beneficial and improve the QOL.

Objective: To examine the correlation between Pemphigus Disease Area Index (PDAI) score and Thai-version of Skindex-29 score in pemphigus and define other variable factors which affected the QOL.

Materials and Methods: Fifty-nine pemphigus patients at the Institute of Dermatology in Thailand from July 2017 to September 2017 were enrolled. The QOL was evaluated by the Thai-version of Skindex-29. The clinical severity was assessed by PDAI scoring system. Correlation analysis was used to evaluate the correlation between Skindex-29 and PDAI scores.

Result: The disease severity scores assessed by PDAI had a low positive correlation with the Skindex-29 scores (r = 0.387, P = 0.002). Furthermore, the younger age group was significantly associated with lower QOL (odds ratio [OR], 0.923; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.866 to 0.984; P = 0.013). Shorter duration of disease showed higher risk of poorer QOL in emotion (OR, 11.752; 95% CI, 1.093 to 126.285; P = 0.042) and functioning scores (OR, 22.131; 95% CI, 2.117 to 231.317; P = 0.010).

Conclusion: Our study demonstrated a significant negative effect on the QOL in pemphigus assessed by Thai-version of Skindex-29 score. The clinical severity, age and duration of the disease were important factors associated with poor QOL.