Pattern of dysglycemia among Nigerian adult patients with vitiligo: a 10-year retrospective study

Abstract

Background: The prevalence of dysglycemia among adult patients with vitiligo is higher than the general population. However, data is scarce in our region regarding this hypothesis. This study was to define the pattern of dysglycemia in adult Nigerian patients with vitiligo.Methods: The study was conducted retrospectively among vitiligo patients who visited the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital between 1st January 2007 and 31st December 2016. The laboratory characteristics of this patients were evaluated. Data collected irrespective of vitiligo variant were age, sex, and fasting plasma glucose concentrations. Shapiro-Wilk test, descriptive statistics, chi-square test, Fisher’s exact test, and two-sample t-test were used for analysis. The level of p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results: There were a total of 160 vitiligo patients consisting of 55 (34.4%) males and 105 (65.6%) females. The overall patients mean age was 35±1.9 years (range 19 -61 years). The mean fasting plasma glucose concentration was 5.3±1.1mmol/l. Impaired fasting plasma glucose was detected in 41(26.6%) subjects with female dominance (female 61.0% versus male 39.0%). Diabetes mellitus was documented in 6 (3.8%) subjects with no sex difference (female 50% versus male 50%).Conclusions: Dysglycemia is frequent in vitiligo patients. Screening for dysglycemia should be incorporated into the management protocol of patients with vitiligo.