Request for Funding

Medical Student Research Fellowship for Summer 2004

Mentor: Amit Pandya, M.D.
Department: Dermatology
Room number: DF2.534A
Mail Code: 9190
Phone number: 214-648-5770
E-mail: amit.pandya@UTSouthwestern.edu
Project title: Development of a Quality-of-life questionnaire for Spanish-speaking patients with melasma

Human subjects IRB approved project number (where applicable): We have not submitted this for IRB approval yet. We plan to do this in May

Animal subjects IRB approved project number (where applicable):

Project Type (patient-based research, animal-based research, or basic research; this characterization is only to permit a general classification for grouping similar types of projects)

Patient-based

Brief Description of Project:

Melasma is one of the most common skin disorders among patients with skin of color. A recent study of Hispanic women in the DFW area showed a prevalence of 8%. The impact of the disease on patients is unknown. Recently, a quality-of-life (QOL) study was published, which showed that it was a valid study, and that there were significant domains of the patient's life that were adversely affected by melasma. This study was given predominantly to Caucasian, college educated women at one academic center in North Carolina, which does not represent the most commonly affected patients. We believe that a QOL study is needed in Hispanic women with melasma, in order to assess the impact of the disease on one of the most commonly affected groups.

This project will involve translation of the 10 item English questionnaire to Spanish, back translation to English, review of backtranslation to evaluate equivalency with original, pretesting the questionnaire in a pilot group of patients with and without the disease, refinement of any problem areas, and finally, administration of the questionnaire to at least 100 patients.

Previous Research Activities or Publications with Medical Students:

Last summer, Kelly Werlinger, who is now an MS2, helped in a project to validate a telephone questionnaire to determine the prevalence of melasma in DFW. This questionnaire was subsequently used in 500 Hispanic women in DFW, which concluded that about 8% of Hispanic women in the DFW area have melasma. We are in the process of writing this paper for publication.

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