title: Profile of childhood vitiligo in China: an analysis of 541 patients.
abstract: From July to December 2002, we collected data from 2247 vitiligo patients in order to establish the clinical and epidemiologic profile of vitiligo in China. Of these patients, 541 (24.1%) were children aged equal to or less than 12 years. Of the 541 children, 274 (50.6%) were boys and 267 (49.4%) were girls, with a mean age of 8.87 years and a mean onset age of 7.28 years. Similar to adult patients, boys and girls were affected by vitiligo with equal frequency. The most frequent age of onset was between 4 and 8 years (42.5%). The mean duration of vitiligo was 19.71 months (range: 0-132 months). The most common type of vitiligo was vitiligo vulgaris, the frequency of which was 38.1%, followed by focal vitiligo (34.6%), segmental vitiligo (19.4%), acrofacial vitiligo (7.6%), and universal vitiligo (0.4%). Segmental vitiligo had an earlier the other types. Of the 541 children with vitiligo, 60 (11.1%) had a family history, and 3 (0.6%) had more than one family member who was affected. Forty-one (7.6%) children had an associated autoimmune disease: halo nevi and alopecia areata, which were observed in 39 (7.2%) and 2 (0.4%) children, respectively.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Dermatology, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, Anhui, China.
authors.forename: Zhi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Jiang-Bo
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Sui-Sui
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Sen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Xue-Jun
authors.initials: XJ
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014820:Vitiligo / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*