title: Pigmentation Traits, Sun Exposure, and Risk of Incident Vitiligo in Women.
abstract: Vitiligo is the most common cutaneous depigmentation disorder worldwide, yet little is known about specific risk factors for disease development. Using data from the Nurses' Health Study, a prospective cohort study of 51,337 white women, we examined the associations between (i) pigmentary traits and (ii) reactions to sun exposure and risk of incident vitiligo. Nurses' Health Study participants responded to a question about clinician-diagnosed vitiligo and year of diagnosis (2001 or before, 2002-2005, 2006-2009, 2010-2011, or 2012+). We used Cox proportional hazards regression models to estimate the multivariate-adjusted hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals of incident vitiligo associated with exposures variables, adjusting for potential confounders. We documented 271 cases of incident vitiligo over 835,594 person-years. Vitiligo risk was higher in women who had at least one mole larger than 3 mm in diameter on their left arms (hazard ratio = 1.37, 95% confidence interval = 1.02-1.83). Additionally, vitiligo risk was higher among women with better tanning ability (hazard ratio = 2.59, 95% confidence interval = 1.21-5.54) and in women who experienced at least one blistering sunburn (hazard ratio = 2.17, 95% confidence interval = 1.15-4.10). In this study, upper extremity moles, a higher ability to achieve a tan, and history of a blistering sunburn were associated with a higher risk of developing vitiligo in a population of white women.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA.
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dunlap
authors.affiliation: Department of Occupational and Environmental Health Sciences, Peking University School of Public Health, Beijing, China; Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Shaowei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA.
authors.forename: Erin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Wilmer
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA; Department of Epidemiology, Brown University School of Public Health, Providence, Rhode Island, USA; Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: Eunyoung
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA; Department of Epidemiology, Brown University School of Public Health, Providence, Rhode Island, USA.
authors.forename: Wen-Qing
authors.initials: WQ
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA.
authors.forename: Newsha
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Lajevardi
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA; Department of Epidemiology, Brown University School of Public Health, Providence, Rhode Island, USA; Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Electronic address: abrar_qureshi@brown.edu.
authors.forename: Abrar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Qureshi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006200:Hair Color; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008875:Middle Aged; D009506:Nevus / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology; D011379:Prognosis; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012880:Skin Pigmentation / Q000502:physiology* / Q000528:radiation effects*; D013472:Sunlight / Q000009:adverse effects*; D013997:Time Factors; D014466:Ultraviolet Rays / Q000009:adverse effects; D014820:Vitiligo / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000503:physiopathology*