Clinical and epidemiological profile of a latin american pediatric population with vitiligo

Abstract

Introduction: Pediatric vitiligo presents clinical differences compared to adult vitiligo. There are few studies in Latin America that describe the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of vitiligo in children and adolescents.

Objective: To describe the clinical-epidemiological, demographic, family history, triggering factors and comorbidities in a child population with vitiligo treated in a referral hospital in Cali, Colombia.

Materials and methods: Cross-sectional descriptive observational study. Seventy-five patients with a diagnosis of vitiligo between 0 and 17 years of age were included, who were seen in the outpatient clinic between July 2015 and March 2019. Clinical and epidemiological data were analyzed including the most frequent type of vitiligo, age of onset of the disease, sex, education, personal and family history, related factors, comorbidities, and treatment.

Results: 75 pediatric patients with vitiligo, of which 65.3% were women and 34.7% men, with a median age of 11 years and with age of onset of the disease between 6 and 10 years in 41.3% of cases. The most common clinical form was non-segmental vitiligo (78.7%), with the most frequent location in the head and neck (57.3%). Koebner phenomenon was identified in 9.7%, halo nevus in 5.3% of the patients, presence of previous emotional stress in 14.7% and family history of vitiligo in 9.3%.

Conclusions: The findings are similar to those recorded in other Latin American studies, highlighting that the disease is most common in the female population, begins at school age and that there is a higher frequency of non-segmental vitiligo.

Key words: Childhood vitiligo, epidemiology, Latin America.