E-Mail karger@karger.com www.karger.com/hrp Original Paper Horm Res Paediatr 2013;79:137–144 DOI: 10.1159/000348388 High Prevalence of Autoimmune Thyroiditis in Children and Adolescents with Vitiligo Marije W. Kroon a Charlotte Vrijman a Charlotte Chandeck a Bas S. Wind a Albert Wolkerstorfer a Rosalie M. Luiten a Jan D. Bos a Ronald B. Geskus b A.S. Paul van Trotsenburg c J.P. Wietze van der Veen a, d a Department of Dermatology and the Netherlands Institute for Pigment Disorders, b Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Bioinformatics and c Department of Pediatric Endocrinology, Emma Children’s Hospital, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, and d The Netherlands Cancer Institute – Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital (NKI-AVL), Amsterdam, The Netherlands nosed in 16 patients (6.2%). This is significantly higher than the prevalence reported in the general healthy paediatric population. Increased levels of anti-TPO antibodies (= 30 kU/l), without thyroid hormone disturbances, were found in 27 patients (10.5%). Conclusion: The prevalence of AIT in children and adolescents with vitiligo is significantly higher than in the general population. It may be advantageous to screen thyroid function and antibody levels in all paediatric patients with non-segmental vitiligo. To strengthen recom- mendations on screening, research on the burden for pa- tients and cost-effectiveness is needed. Copyright © 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel Introduction Vitiligo is a common acquired pigmentary disorder characterized by the loss of melanocytes from the epider- mis and affects approximately 0.5–1% of the general pop- ulation [1]. Vitiligo in children and adolescents repre- Key Words Adolescents · Autoimmune thyroid disease · Screening · Vitiligo Abstract Background/Aims: Vitiligo is considered to be an autoim- mune disease and is known to be associated with other au- toimmune diseases, particularly affecting the thyroid. In chil- dren and adolescents this association has been reported in only a few studies, with varying results. The aim of this study was to examine thyroid function and prevalence of thyroid autoimmunity in children and adolescents with vitiligo and to investigate the utility of screening. Methods: Two hun- dred and sixty patients with vitiligo were enrolled. Plasma TSH, FT4 and anti-thyroid peroxidase (TPO) antibody con- centrations were measured. The prevalence of thyroid dys- function and autoimmunity were compared to the general healthy paediatric population. Results: Autoimmune thy- roiditis (AIT) with thyroid hormone disturbances was diag- Received: September 4, 2012 Accepted: January 25, 2013 Published online: March 19, 2013 HORMONE RESEARCH IN PÆDIATRICS Marije Kroon, MD Department of Dermatology and the Netherlands Institute for Pigment Disorders Meibergdreef 35 NL–1105 AZ Amsterdam (The Netherlands) E-Mail m.w.kroon  @  amc.uva.nl © 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel 1663–2818/13/0793–0137$38.00/0 Downloaded by: Universiteits Bibliotheek Amsterdam 145.117.163.117 - 10/1/2014 4:16:18 PM