This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.

Children with early-onset vitiligo more likely to have extensive, progressive disease

Children who were diagnosed with vitiligo before 3 years of age were more likely to have progressive and extensive disease compared with those who developed later-onset childhood vitiligo, according to recently published study results.

Researchers conducted a retrospective chart review of 208 children evaluated for vitiligo between Jan. 1, 1990, and Nov. 15, 2014, at the Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology, New York University School of Medicine. The Χ² and t tests were used to compare characteristics of early- and later-onset cohorts for categorical and continuous variables.

Thirty-one patients (15%) first developed vitiligo before 3 years of age and were classified as early-onset, while 177 patients (85%) developed vitiligo between 3 and 18 years of age and classified as later-onset. The mean age of presentation was 6.2 years.

The early-onset cohort had 6.3% involved body surface area compared with 2.6% in the later-onset cohort (P = .003) during an average follow-up of 1.9 years. More than half (56%) of the early-onset patients developed new areas of vitiligo compared with 35% of the later-onset cohort

(P = .039).  Disease progression was experienced by 26% of patients with segmental vitiligo compared with 58% of patients with other types of vitiligo.

There was a lower incidence of halo nevi in the early-onset cohort compared with the later-onset cohort (13% vs. 29%; P = .064).

The two cohorts did not have significant differences in repigmentation, vitiligo type, eczema, gender ratio or personal and personal and family history of diseases.

“To our knowledge, this is the largest series of patients with vitiligo presenting before 3 years of age, and no previous studies have used this subset as a comparison group,” the researchers wrote.

“Most children with vitiligo are otherwise healthy and over half respond to standard treatments, although there remains a need for better treatments.” – by Bruce Thiel

Disclosure: The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.