A Study on association between Vitiligo and Thyroid Dysfunction

Background: Vitiligo is a depigmenting disorder characterized by the loss of melanocytes. Thyroid functional disorders and autoimmune thyroid diseases have been reported in association with vitiligo. This study was thus conducted to find out any association of vitiligo with thyroid dysfunction. Methodology: This study was conducted at the Dermatology Department of a teaching medical college. This case-control study included 100 new cases of various types of vitiligo and 100 age and sex matched healthy controls. Serum samples from both patients and controls were collected and assayed for triiodothyronine (T3), thyroxine (T4), thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) and antiTPO antibodies. Statistical comparisons were performed using Chisquare test. Results: Forty two patients had focal vitiligo, 20 had segmental vitiligo, 13 had acrofacial vitiligo and 25 had generalized vitiligo. Thyroid hormonal profile revealed a statistically significant relationship between hypothroidism and vitiligo as hypothyroidism was seen in 28 (28%) vitiligo patients and six controls (6%) (p<0.05). Antithyroid peroxidase antibodies were present in 19 cases as compared to two controls. Thus, out of twenty eight vitiligo cases with hypothyroidism 19 cases had positive thyroid antibody, which was statistically significant (p< 0.05) in comparison to controls with hypothyroidism with positive thyroid antibody. Conclusion: Considering the fact that vitiligo usually precedes the onset of thyroid dysfunction, periodic followup of vitiligo patients for detecting thyroid diseases is further emphasized especially in patients with increased level of anti-TPO.