title: Decreased risk of melanoma and nonmelanoma skin cancer in patients with vitiligo: a survey among 1307 patients and their partners.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Vitiligo is a common skin disease characterized by autoimmune melanocyte destruction. Recent genetic studies suggest a lower susceptibility to melanoma in patients with vitiligo; however, lifetime melanoma prevalence in patients with vitiligo has not previously been studied. Nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC) prevalence has been studied, but only in small studies and with contradictory results.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This retrospective, comparative cohort survey was designed to assess lifetime prevalences of melanoma and NMSC in patients with vitiligo compared with nonvitiligo controls.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients with nonsegmental vitiligo, who visited our clinic between January 1995 and September 2010, and were aged 50 years or older at the time of the study, were invited to participate in a postal survey. The questions regarded demographics, vitiligo characteristics, phototherapy history, skin cancer risk factors and the number of skin cancers experienced during the patient's lifetime. Patients were asked to have their partner fill in a control questionnaire. All skin cancers were validated by a pathology report. In total 2635 invitations were sent and 1307 eligible questionnaires were returned (50%). Multivariate logistic regression models were used to quantify adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for associations between vitiligo and lifetime prevalences of melanoma and NMSC.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Adjusted for confounders, patients with vitiligo had a threefold lower probability of developing melanoma (adjusted OR 0·32; 95% CI 0·12-0·88) and NMSC (adjusted OR 0·28; 95% CI 0·16-0·50). Subgroup analyses of patients treated with narrowband ultraviolet (UV) B, and psoralen and UVA did not show dose-related trends of increased age-adjusted lifetime prevalence of melanoma or NMSC.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings suggest that patients with vitiligo have a decreased risk of both melanoma and NMSC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology and the Netherlands Institute for Pigment Disorders SNIP, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. h.e.teulings@amc.nl
authors.forename: H E
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Teulings
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Overkamp
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ceylan
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Nieuweboer-Krobotova
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Bos
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nijsten
authors.forename: A W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Wolkerstorfer
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Luiten
authors.forename: J P W
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: van der Veen
mesh_terms: D017668:Age of Onset; D000368:Aged; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000032:analysis / Q000517:prevention & control; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D010789:Phototherapy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015995:Prevalence; D011481:Protective Clothing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D013471:Sunburn / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D013473:Sunscreening Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D014466:Ultraviolet Rays; D014820:Vitiligo / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology
chemical_list: D013473:Sunscreening Agents