SAN FRANCISCO – Thyroid disease is known to be more common in patients with vitiligo, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
In a review of 1,098 patients, researchers at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit found that vitiligo also travels with a host of other autoimmune diseases, including alopecia areata, Guillain-Barre syndrome, linear morphea, myasthenia gravis, discoid lupus, and Sjogren’s syndrome.
Nearly 20% of the subjects had at least one comorbid autoimmune disease. The study also confirmed previously found associations with thyroid disease, inflammatory bowel disease, pernicious anemia, and systemic lupus erythematosus.
The findings have changed the practice of investigator and dermatologist Dr. Iltefat Hamzavi, a senior staff physician at the hospital. He explained how in an interview at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology.