Epidemiological aspects and disease association of childhood vitiligo

ABSTRACT

To determine, for the first time in Iran, different epidemiological aspects and association of vitiligo with diseases between children and adults. This was a cross-sectional study with 324 participants, divided into 3 groups, each consisting of 108 of cases. The first group consisted of sex matched adults with vitiligo, second group were children between 2 and 18 years old with vitiligo [case group] and the third group were children with other skin disorders being matched for age and sex. Laboratory tests such as FBS, thyroid function test, CBC/Differentials and anti TPO antibody obtained from the participants and the type of the vitiligo was recorded. Our findings showed that thyroid abnormalities were seen in 4.5% of children of the case group. FBS was higher in only one child with vitiligo. Family history of vitiligo was significantly different between children with vitiligo and those with other skin disorders [p=0.001]. In our research, most of the children with vitiligo had positive anti-TPO antibody, confirming the importance of anti - TPO screening test in vitiligo patients