Thyroid Dysfunction in Libyan Vitiligo Patients

Abstract

Background: Vitiligo is an acquired depigmenting disorder due to destruction of melanocytes, many hypotheses have been suggested for its pathogenesis. One of these hypotheses suggest that there are autoimmune and endocrine dysfunction involvement. The involvement of vitiligo with thyroid autoimmune diseases, with the increased prevalence of auto antibodies including thyroid auto antibodies in vitiligo support the hypothesis. Patients and Methods: 50 Libyan patients under same age and gender with vitiligo, and 50 controls . Patients were excluded if they had a history of thyroid, or other autoimmune diseases. Data on age, onset of illness, duration and disease activity were determined . Serum T3, T4, TSH , and antibodies to TPO and TG were measured in both vitiligo patients & controls. All patients and control subjects underwent thyroid ultrasonography. Results: Fifty patients with vitiligo and their 50 matched controls were studied. More than half of the patients (52%) were females and 48% were males, their mean of age was 40 ± 11 years, and the duration of vitiligo was 11± 9 years. Vitiligo vulgaris type was the most common form seen in 68% of the patients, and 42% reported at least one family member affected with vitiligo. Family history of thyroid disorder was seen in 20% of the patients. Thyroid functional abnormalities were significantly seen more in patients than control subjects. The frequency of TG and TPO thyroid autoantibodies was significantly higher in vitiligo patients than in healthy controls (P < 0.01). Abnormal thyroid ultrasound study was seen in 18 (36%) of the patients compared to 6 (12%) of the control subjects (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Our findings pointed to a significant association between vitiligo and thyroid autoimmunity and showed that testing the level of thyroid autoantibodies is relevant in vitiligo patients.

Association of Vitiligo with ABO/Rh System and its Influence on Thyroid Stimulating Hormone and Vitamin D

“…Although several comprehensive studies have described a possible relationship between TSH and vitiligo, very limited studies have been established so far in Libya. Indeed, to the best of our understanding, there has been only one study conducted in our country by El-Dibany et al, 2017 that investigated the potential connection between serum T3, T4, TSH and vitiligo concluding that both T3 and T4 serum levels were normal and the frequency of high TSH was statistically significant (P = 0.016) in vitiligo cases compared to controls [41]. We predicted that the relationship could be traceable in our study and unfortunately, this was not achieved.…”