Abstract

Vitiligo is a common skin and hair depigmentary disorder that results from selective destruction of melanocytes. It occurs in a typical multifactorial, polygenic inheritance. Several studies have indicated that vitiligo is associated with some autoimmune diseases. In this paper we examined 6,516 vitiligo patients including clinical characteristics, familial involvement, and their association with other autoimmune diseases. Compared with sporadic vitiligo probands, familial vitiligo probands have earlier age onset and longer disease duration. The prevalences of four autoimmune diseases namely rheumatoid arthritis, chronic urticaria, alopecia areata and psoriasis, were significantly elevated in generalized vitiligo probands and their first-degree relatives. The prevalences of chronic urticaria, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis were much higher in familial generalized vitiligo probands. In addition, the prevalences of diabetes mellitus and asthma were also higher in familial vitiligo probands. These findings indicate that generalized vitiligo may share common genetic aetiologic links with other autoimmune diseases, and the genetic component of familial generalized vitiligo is stronger.