Clinical and Patient‐Reported Factors Associated With Impaired Quality of Life in Japanese Patients With Vitiligo: A Multicenter Questionnaire Study Using VitiQoL

Vitiligo can cause a substantial psychosocial burden. However, the clinical and patient-reported features associated with impaired disease-specific quality of life (QoL) in Japanese patients remain incompletely characterized. We conducted a multicenter, cross-sectional questionnaire study to examine the associations between the Vitiligo-specific Quality-of-Life (VitiQoL) instrument and clinical variables reported by patients and physicians. A total of 255 questionnaires were collected, and 227 patients with complete VitiQoL data were included in the main analysis. The mean VitiQoL total score was 40.6 ± 22.4. Higher VitiQoL scores were associated with female sex, exposed-site involvement, and border hyperpigmentation, with scores increasing progressively with the number of involved exposed regions. VitiQoL scores showed a trend toward an inverse correlation with age. Lesion-associated symptoms were also associated with higher VitiQoL scores, whereas non-lesional skin symptoms were not. Lesion-associated symptoms were associated with physician-rated disease severity. Treatment response assessed by either patients or physicians was not associated with VitiQoL scores. In multivariable analysis, female sex, younger age, a greater number of exposed regions, and border hyperpigmentation were independently associated with higher VitiQoL scores, whereas physician-rated disease severity and lesion-associated symptoms were not. These findings highlight the multifactorial nature of QoL impairment in vitiligo and the importance of incorporating both clinical and patient-reported features into the assessment of QoL beyond repigmentation-based treatment response.

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Publication Details

Journal
The Journal of Dermatology
Published
2026-09-18
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/1346-8138.70505
Primary Topic
melanin and skin pigmentation
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Clinical and Patient‐Reported Factors Associated With Impaired Quality of Life in Japanese Patients With Vitiligo: A Multicenter Questionnaire Study Using VitiQoL

Atsushi Otsuka, Akito Hasegawa, Sayaka Yamaguchi, Tadamichi Shimizu et al.
The Journal of Dermatology
melanin and skin pigmentation
article

Clinical and Patient‐Reported Factors Associated With Impaired Quality of Life in Japanese Patients With Vitiligo: A Multicenter Questionnaire Study Using VitiQoL

Atsushi Otsuka, Akito Hasegawa, Sayaka Yamaguchi, Tadamichi Shimizu, Noriyasu Sakai, Ken Okamura, Yuta Araki, Tsuneo Konta, Mizuki Sugiura, Kazumitsu Sugiura, Atsushi Tanemura, Kazutoshi Harada, Sho Hiroyasu, Hiroshi Koga, Riichiro Abe, Shigetoshi Sano, Daisuke Tsuruta, Naoki Oiso, Miwa Ashida, Hiroyuki Murota, Yuko Abe, Teruhiko Makino, Soichiro Watanabe, Kenzo Takahashi, Aoi Ohira, Ichiro Katayama, Tamio Suzuki, Tetsushi Nisikawa
article en

Abstract

Vitiligo can cause a substantial psychosocial burden. However, the clinical and patient-reported features associated with impaired disease-specific quality of life (QoL) in Japanese patients remain incompletely characterized. We conducted a multicenter, cross-sectional questionnaire study to examine the associations between the Vitiligo-specific Quality-of-Life (VitiQoL) instrument and clinical variables reported by patients and physicians. A total of 255 questionnaires were collected, and 227 patients with complete VitiQoL data were included in the main analysis. The mean VitiQoL total score was 40.6 ± 22.4. Higher VitiQoL scores were associated with female sex, exposed-site involvement, and border hyperpigmentation, with scores increasing progressively with the number of involved exposed regions. VitiQoL scores showed a trend toward an inverse correlation with age. Lesion-associated symptoms were also associated with higher VitiQoL scores, whereas non-lesional skin symptoms were not. Lesion-associated symptoms were associated with physician-rated disease severity. Treatment response assessed by either patients or physicians was not associated with VitiQoL scores. In multivariable analysis, female sex, younger age, a greater number of exposed regions, and border hyperpigmentation were independently associated with higher VitiQoL scores, whereas physician-rated disease severity and lesion-associated symptoms were not. These findings highlight the multifactorial nature of QoL impairment in vitiligo and the importance of incorporating both clinical and patient-reported features into the assessment of QoL beyond repigmentation-based treatment response.

The Journal of Dermatology
Kurume University (JP), Yamagata University (JP), Fujita Health University (JP), Tokyo Medical University (JP), University of the Ryukyus (JP), Kindai University Hospital (JP), Nara City Hospital (JP), Saiseikai Nakatsu Hospital (JP), University of Toyama (JP), Nagasaki University (JP), Osaka Metropolitan University (JP), Tokyo Metropolitan University (JP), Niigata University (JP), Kindai University (JP), Yamagata Prefectural University of Health Sciences (JP)
Kao Corporation
Openalex Percentile: Top 14%
melanin and skin pigmentation
DOISourceOpenAlex
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