Association of vitiligo with multiple cutaneous and extra-cutaneous autoimmune diseases: a nationwide cross-sectional study

Previous studies found conflicting results about associations of vitiligo with different autoimmune diseases. To evaluate associations of vitiligo with multiple autoimmune diseases. A cross-sectional study representative of 612,084,148 US patients from the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample (NEDS) 2015–2019 was performed. Vitiligo and autoimmune diseases were identified using International Classification of Diseases-10 codes. The most frequent autoimmune disorders in patients with vitiligo were type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), autoimmune thyroiditis, Addison's disease, and systemic sclerosis (SSc). Vitiligo was associated with any autoimmune disorder (adjusted odds ratio [95% confidence interval] 1.45 [1.32–1.58]). Cutaneous disorders with largest effect-sizes were alopecia areata (186.22 [115.31–300.72]) and SSc (32.13 [25.28–40.82]). Non-cutaneous comorbidities with largest effect-sizes were primary sclerosing cholangitis (43.12 [18.98–97.99]), pernicious anemia (41.26 [31.66–53.78]), Addison's disease (33.85 [26.68–42.9]), and autoimmune thyroiditis (31.65 [26.34–38.02]). Vitiligo is associated with multiple cutaneous and non-cutaneous autoimmune diseases, especially in females and older age.