Profile of Childhood Vitiligo in China: An Analysis of 541 Patients

• Published in: Pediatric dermatology 2006-03, Vol.23 (2), p.114-116
• Main Authors: Hu, Zhi, Liu, Jiang-Bo, Ma, Sui-Sui, Yang, Sen, Zhang, Xue-Jun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Age of Onset; Biological and medical sciences; Chi-Square Distribution; Child; Child, Preschool; China - epidemiology; Dermatology; Female; Humans; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Male; Medical sciences; Pigmentary diseases of the skin; Surveys and Questionnaires; Vitiligo - complications; Vitiligo - epidemiology
• ISSN: 0736-8046; 1525-1470
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1525-1470.2006.00192.x

:  From July to December 2002, we collected data from 2247 vitiligo patients in order to establish the clinical and epidemiologic profile of vitiligo in China. Of these patients, 541 (24.1%) were children aged equal to or less than 12 years. Of the 541 children, 274 (50.6%) were boys and 267 (49.4%) were girls, with a mean age of 8.87 years and a mean onset age of 7.28 years. Similar to adult patients, boys and girls were affected by vitiligo with equal frequency. The most frequent age of onset was between 4 and 8 years (42.5%). The mean duration of vitiligo was 19.71 months (range: 0–132 months). The most common type of vitiligo was vitiligo vulgaris, the frequency of which was 38.1%, followed by focal vitiligo (34.6%), segmental vitiligo (19.4%), acrofacial vitiligo (7.6%), and universal vitiligo (0.4%). Segmental vitiligo had an earlier the other types. Of the 541 children with vitiligo, 60 (11.1%) had a family history, and 3 (0.6%) had more than one family member who was affected. Forty‐one (7.6%) children had an associated autoimmune disease: halo nevi and alopecia areata, which were observed in 39 (7.2%) and 2 (0.4%) children, respectively.