Cardiff Acne Disability Index

The Cardiff Acne Disability Index (CADI) is a short five-item questionnaire derived from the longer Acne Disability Index.

The Cardiff Acne Disability Index is designed for use in teenagers and young adults with acne. It is self explanatory and can be simply handed to the patient who is asked to complete it without the need for detailed explanation.

In order to ensure that CADI is an appropriate measure for all patients, the authors of CADI have announced (Abdelrazik Y et al, 2021) that the wording of Question 2 is changed to: “Do you think that having acne during the last month interfered with your daily social life, social events or intimate personal relationships?”

This new wording should be used from October 2021 onwards. The updated wording is given in the English version of the CADI. the various language translations will be modified on request.

Who can use it

This questionnaire can be used in a range of settings by clinicians, pharmaceutical companies, for-profit organisations, students or researchers.

Depending on who you are and what you're using the questionnaire for, you may need to apply for a licence. Please note that there is no charge to use the CADI.

To apply for a licence to use the CADI please directly contact Technology Transfer office at technologytransfer@cardiff.ac.uk. It is not possible to apply using our online licensing system.

Learn more about who can use this questionnaire and how to administer it.

Time for completion

The CADI is usually completed in one minute.

Recall period

The questions are designed to be completed with a one month period.

Download the questionnaire

Different language versions

This zip file contains the questionnaires in different languages, along with the translation certificates. Find out more about our translation and linguistic validation process, and what to do if you'd like to create a new translation.

How to score it

The scoring of each answer is:

(a) 3
(b) 2
(c) 1
(d) 0

The score is calculated by summing the score of each question resulting in a possible maximum of 15 and a minimum of 0. The higher the score, the more the quality of life is impaired.

We would recommend that if one item is not answered, that item should be scored zero and the score for that completion would be the sum of the scores of the other four items (not adjusted).

If more than one item is not answered, the questionnaire cannot be scored.

Copyright

Please note that the Cardiff Acne Disability Index (CADI) is protected under copyright, so you must not change the format, wording or design of the questionnaire.

The copyright statement must always be reproduced at the end of every copy of this questionniare in whatever language:

© Cardiff Acne Disability Index. R J Motley, A Y Finlay 1992

Original publication

Motley RJ, Finlay AY. Practical use of a disability index in the routine management of acne. Clinical and Experimental Dermatology, 1992; 17: 1-3

Other key publications

Abdelrazik YT, Ali FM, Salek MS, Finlay AY. Clinical experience and psychometric properties of the Cardiff Acne Disability Index (CADI). British Journal of Dermatology, 2021; 185: 711 - 724

Dreno B, Finlay A Y, Nocera T et al. CADI cultural and linguist validation into French of an acne disability index. Dermatology 2004; 208: 104-108.

Mojica WP, Laconico LLD, Dofitas BL, Genuino RF. Validation of a Filipino Version of the Cardiff Acne Disability Index . Acta Med Philipp [Internet]. 2017; 51(2).

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