International Journal of Advances in Medicine | March-April 2018 | Vol 5 | Issue 2 Page 224 International Journal of Advances in Medicine Amadi C et al. Int J Adv Med. 2018 Apr;5(2):224-227 http://www.ijmedicine.com pISSN 2349-3925 | eISSN 2349-3933 Original Research Article Pattern of dysglycemia among Nigerian adult patients with vitiligo: a 10-year retrospective study Collins Amadi*, Ehimen P. Odum INTRODUCTION Vitiligo is a noncontagious dermatologic disorder presenting with whitish skin and mucous membrane appearance secondary to the loss of viable pigment- producing melanocytes. 1 It has global distribution of about 2% with no racial or sex predilection. 2 Some studies have suggested a more female preponderance of vitiligo cases. 2,3 Its etiology has remained unknown several decades after it was first described. 4,5 Several theories have been documented as possible factors in the evolution of the disorder including genetics, neuro-chemical, auto-toxicity of melanocytes and autoimmune disorders. 6 The most widely plausible and accepted of these documented theories is the part of an autoimmune mechanism, evidenced by several autoimmune diseases frequent in vitiligo. 5,6 Pernicious anemia, Addison’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, alopecia areata and autoimmune diseases of the thyroid organ have all been described in association with vitiligo. 7-9 Based on the autoimmune mechanisms in vitiligo, several authors have also suggested a distinct higher frequency of dysglycemia in patients with vitiligo relative to the general population. 10,17 While some authors have suggested that vitiligo precedes dysglycemia, others have suggested that these ABSTRACT Background: The prevalence of dysglycemia among adult patients with vitiligo is higher than the general population. However, data is scarce in our region regarding this hypothesis. This study was to define the pattern of dysglycemia in adult Nigerian patients with vitiligo. Methods: The study was conducted retrospectively among vitiligo patients who visited the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital between 1st January 2007 and 31st December 2016. The laboratory characteristics of this patients were evaluated. Data collected irrespective of vitiligo variant were age, sex, and fasting plasma glucose concentrations. Shapiro-Wilk test, descriptive statistics, chi-square test, Fisher’s exact test, and two-sample t-test were used for analysis. The level of p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: There were a total of 160 vitiligo patients consisting of 55 (34.4%) males and 105 (65.6%) females. The overall patients mean age was 35±1.9 years (range 19 -61 years). The mean fasting plasma glucose concentration was 5.3±1.1mmol/l. Impaired fasting plasma glucose was detected in 41(26.6%) subjects with female dominance (female 61.0% versus male 39.0%). Diabetes mellitus was documented in 6 (3.8%) subjects with no sex difference (female 50% versus male 50%). Conclusions: Dysglycemia is frequent in vitiligo patients. Screening for dysglycemia should be incorporated into the management protocol of patients with vitiligo. Keywords: Age, Dysglycemia, Nigeria, Sex, Vitiligo Department of Chemical Pathology and Metabolic Medicine, University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Port Harcourt, Nigeria Received: 10 January 2018 Accepted: 12 February 2018 *Correspondence: Dr. Collins Amadi E-mail: collins338@yahoo.com Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2349-3933.ijam20181067