Demographics, Clinical and Laboratory Features of Childhood Vitiligo: A Retrospective Cross-sectional Analysis of 179 Patients

Vitiligo is an acquired pigmentation disorder. Childhood vitiligo can differ from adult-onset vitiligo in several aspects. We aimed to evaluate demographics, clinical features of vitiligo in children, and laboratory results. A retrospective, cross-sectional study was conducted on < 18-year-old pediatric patients with vitiligo. Demographics, clinical features, and laboratory test results performed at the time of diagnosis were retrieved from medical records. Vitiligo was classified as non-segmental (NSV), segmental (SV), and unclassified vitiligo. A total of 179 patients were included. The female/male ratio was 1.2/1. The most common form was NSV (87.7%), followed by SV (7.3%). Among NSV, generalized vitiligo was the most common subtype (42.5%), followed by localized (32.4%) and acrofacial (8.9%) vitiligo. Vitiligo began ≤ 12 years of age in 156 (88.6%) patients. NSV and SV were not significantly different in sex, age of disease onset, disease duration, halo nevi, or Koebner phenomenon. Leukotrichia was more common in SV (84.6%) than NSV (7.6%) (P < 0.001). Face (67.6%) was the most frequently involved body site. Neutrophil percentage, mean platelet volume (MPV), MPV/platelet ratio, MPV/lymphocyte ratio, neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR), derived NLR, and systemic inflammatory response index were significantly lower in patients with early-onset (≤ 12 years) vitiligo (P < 0.05), possibly indicating the differences in inflammatory response between young children and adolescents. It was noteworthy that eosinophil counts, eosinophil/monocyte ratio, and eosinophil/neutrophil ratio were significantly lower in female patients (P < 0.05), which might reflect the effect of sex hormones on eosinophils. Further studies are warranted to extend our results.