The prevalence of autoimmune endocrine diseases in vitiligo patients

Abstract

Vitiligo is a common polygenic autoimmune disease in which the foci of depigmentation are formed on the skin and/or mucous membranes as a result of the death of melanocytes. There are several hypotheses for the pathogenesis of the disease, the leading role among them is played the autoimmune hypothesis. This review summarizes the available literature data on the prevalence and structure of comorbid endocrine autoimmune pathology in vitiligo patients. In most studies conducted in Europe, America and Asia the prevalence of autoimmune thyroid diseases (including autoimmune thyroiditis and Graves disease), diabetes mellitus and autoimmune adrenal insufficiency was higher in vitiligo patients than in the general population. The results of some studies indicate a frequent association of vitiligo with autoimmune polyglandular syndromes. In the structure of comorbid pathology the highest prevalence was in autoimmune thyroid diseases. A number of studies have established a higher prevalence of autoimmune endocrine diseases in women, as well as in nonsegmental vitiligo patients and in cases of family history of vitiligo and/or other autoimmune diseases. In addition, it was shown that the prevalence of endocrine diseases increases with increasing area of depigmentation. The data obtained justify the advisability of conducting a timely examination of vitiligo patients with the aim of early detection of comorbid diseases and the appointment of appropriate treatment. Further studies are needed to investigate the effect of the identified associations on the course of vitiligo and comorbid endocrinopathies, as well as the effectiveness of therapy and the quality of life of patients.

A Single-Center Retrospective Study of Pediatric Vitiligo in a Tertiary Hospital

“…17 This theory explains the association of vitiligo with other autoimmune disorders; the most common are thyroid disorders (Graves, Hashimoto), type 1 diabetes mellitus, pernicious anemia, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, alopecia areata, celiac disease, and autoimmune polyendocrine syndromes. 18-20 Other studies found a higher association with thyroid disorders than us; Pagovich et al 21 found that up to 25% of the individuals presented thyroid disease in a study carried out in New York City. Martins et al 9 in Brazil found a prevalence of 4.5%, similar to our findings (5.1%).…”

“…19 Furthermore, children with vitiligo have a genetic predisposition; there are many genes related with the disease. 19,20 In our population, 12.59% of the individuals have positive family history of vitiligo. We noticed that in our study, the percentage was slightly higher in the lower age groups (0-5 and 5-9 years of age).…”

Vitiligo—Thyroid Disease Association: When, in Whom, and Why Should It Be Suspected? A Systematic Review

“…The presence of circulating antibodies was correlated with both a long duration of vitiligo and the onset of vitiligo at an older age, but antibody titers were not correlated with the progression, regression, or stability of vitiligo. A retrospective observational study of 700 vitiligo patients highlighted the lack of a clear difference in response to therapy or vitiligo activity in patients with other concomitant autoimmune or autoinflammatory pathologies [23] and found that forms of NSV are more commonly associated with a personal or family history of autoimmunity compared to forms of SV (segmental vitiligo) [23,38].…”