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.