Vitiligo Tied to Alopecia, RA, Other Autoimmune Diseases

TOPLINE: 

A meta-analysis found higher prevalence rates of autoimmune comorbidities, particularly thyroid disease, alopecia areata, rheumatoid arthritis, and type 1 diabetes in adults with vitiligo.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers conducted a meta-analysis of eight observational studies published between 2012 and 2022 that evaluated the prevalence of autoimmune comorbidities among 10,246 adults with vitiligo in the US.
• Studies compared patients with vitiligo to the general population, individuals without vitiligo, or healthy control participants.
• Study outcomes included pooled prevalence rates of various autoimmune comorbidities.

TAKEAWAY:

• In patients with vitiligo, thyroid disease was the most common comorbidity (pooled prevalence, 13.6%), followed by psoriasis (5.1%), rheumatoid arthritis (3.2%), alopecia areata (2.7%), type 1 diabetes (1.8%), and pernicious anemia (1.7%).
• Other less common comorbidities included chronic urticaria (pooled prevalence, 1.6%), inflammatory bowel disease (1.4%), systemic lupus erythematosus (1.2%), and Sjögren syndrome (1.1%).
• Patients with vitiligo had very low prevalence rates of celiac disease (0.9%), Addison’s disease (0.8%), multiple sclerosis (0.3%), and myasthenia gravis (0.2%).
• Greater vitiligo extent (more body surface area involved) was significantly associated with increasing prevalence of thyroid disease, type 1 diabetes mellitus, rheumatoid arthritis, and pernicious anemia.

IN PRACTICE:

“Vitiligo is associated with multiple other autoimmune diseases in the US patient population,” the study authors wrote, recommending that “healthcare providers offer screening for thyroid disease in patients with vitiligo, particularly those with extensive disease.” Longitudinal studies are needed, they added, “to identify causal links between vitiligo and other autoimmune comorbidities, including underlying pathophysiological mechanisms, as well as to assess the impact of screening and early management of autoimmune comorbidities in patients with vitiligo.”

SOURCE:

This study was led by Jinan Liu, Incyte Corporation, Wilmington, Delaware, and was published online on August 19 in Dermatology and Therapy.

LIMITATIONS:

This review was limited by the small number of eligible high-quality US studies, heterogeneity in comorbidity definitions, and potential small-study effects, which could influence prevalence estimates.

DISCLOSURES:

This study was funded by Incyte Corporation, and Liu and one other author reported being employees and shareholders of the company. Another author reported receiving research support and honoraria from AbbVie, Abcuro, Inc., Almirall, AltruBio, Inc., Amgen, Arena, Astria, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Celgene, Pfizer, Sanofi, and various other drug companies. 

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.