Anxiety and Depression in Patients with Vitiligo: A Cross-Sectional Comparative Study

Vitiligo is a chronic depigmenting skin disorder that may adversely affect patients' psychosocial well-being because of its visible clinical manifestations. Anxiety and depression have been frequently investigated in patients with vitiligo; however, findings remain inconsistent across different populations. This study aimed to compare anxiety and depression levels between patients with vitiligo and healthy controls. This cross-sectional case–control study included 81 participants comprising 38 patients with vitiligo and 43 age-matched healthy controls. Sociodemographic data were collected using a structured questionnaire. Anxiety and depression were assessed using the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Normality was evaluated using the Shapiro–Wilk test. Since continuous variables were not normally distributed, between-group comparisons were performed using the Mann–Whitney U test, while categorical variables were compared using the chi-square test. Statistical significance was defined as p < 0.05. The mean age was 30.05 ± 8.85 years in the vitiligo group and 28.70 ± 7.67 years in the control group (p = 0.528). Female participants accounted for 73.7% of the vitiligo group and 58.1% of the control group (p = 0.217). Median anxiety and depression scores were comparable between groups. Mean anxiety scores were 13.32 ± 10.81 in the vitiligo group and 14.12 ± 11.54 in controls (p = 0.642). Mean depression scores were 13.82 ± 9.55 and 12.00 ± 11.32, respectively (p = 0.149). No statistically significant differences were detected between groups for any psychological outcome. Patients with vitiligo demonstrated anxiety and depression scores comparable to those of healthy controls. Although depression scores were numerically higher in the vitiligo group, the difference was not statistically significant. Larger multicenter studies incorporating disease severity and lesion localization are warranted to further clarify the psychological burden associated with vitiligo.