Increased prevalence of chronic autoimmune (Hashimoto's) thyroiditis in children and adolescents with vitiligo.

BACKGROUND: An increased prevalence of autoimmune (Hashimoto's) thyroiditis in adult patients with vitiligo has been described. This association has scarcely been studied in children.

OBJECTIVE: We sought to assess children and adolescents with vitiligo for autoimmune thyroid disorder and to identify any predisposing factors of this association.

METHODS: In all, 54 children and adolescents (23 boys, 31 girls; mean age 11.4 years) with known vitiligo were studied by physical examination and laboratory studies.

RESULTS: Four patients with vitiligo were already known to have Hashimoto's thyroiditis. In 9 of the remaining 50 patients, autoimmune thyroiditis was revealed at the time of the investigation. Of the 54 patients with vitiligo, 13 (24.1%) had autoimmune thyroiditis as compared with 9.6% of school-aged children from an iodine-replete area of Greece ( P = .002). There was no association between thyroiditis and clinical type of vitiligo, age at onset, mean duration of vitiligo, or sex.

CONCLUSIONS: Hashimoto's thyroiditis is 2.5 times more frequent among children and adolescents with vitiligo than in a healthy age- and sex-matched population. It usually follows the onset of vitiligo. We propose that children and adolescents with vitiligo should be screened annually for thyroid dysfunction, particularly autoimmune thyroiditis.