Thyroid abnormalities in paediatric patients with vitiligo: retrospective study

Introduction: The association between vitiligo and thyroid disease is not fully investigated especially in paediatric patients.

Aim: To determine the incidence of vitiligo and thyroid disorders in children. This is the first report from middle Anatolia and the second report from Turkey.

Material and methods: A retrospective chart review was performed to examine the presence of thyroid abnormalities in paediatric patients who had been admitted to the dermatology department with vitiligo.

Results: A total of 155 paediatric patients, including 80 (52%) male and 75 (48%) female patients were included. The mean age was 8.6 years. Non segmental vitiligo was the most common type of the disease in 140 (90%) reviewed patients, while segmental vitiligo appeared only in 15 (10%) patients. The mean onset of vitiligo was 5.6 ±0.9 years. A family history of vitiligo was found in 14 (9%) children. Thirty-four (22%) patients had thyroid function tests and/or thyroid autoantibody abnormality. All of these patients had non segmental vitiligo. It was statistically significant (p < 0.05) in types of vitiligo and thyroid disease parameters.

Conclusions: Our results show that it may be useful to screen thyroid in children with non segmental vitiligo.