Publication:

Prevalence of vitiligo at the tertiary health care centre, Mc Gann’s teaching district hospital Shivamogga

Background Vitiligo is a common depigmentation disorder involving persons of all ages and both genders uniformly throughout the races. The highest incidence of vitiligo has been recorded in Indians from the Indian subcontinent, along with Mexicans and Japanese.

Methods Patients visiting Dermatology OPD were recruited for the study at the tertiary health care centre, Mc Gann’s teaching district hospital Shivamogga. Data regarding health-related status and other factors were collected between May 2016 and October 2017.

Results Among the potential candidates, 8.6% of our study population was with the positive family history of vitiligo and 50.9% were females and 49.1% were males. Patients with age from 27-36 years were found to be affected mostly. The most common site of onset was the lower limbs (30%) followed by head and neck (25.4%) with the commonest pattern to be of acro-facial type.

Conclusions This study suggests that local epidemiological behavior of vitiligo was not the same across different regions. Variations did exist and may possibly be due to certain clinico-epidemiological parameters of Shimoga viz., prevalence of associated diseases and its extent of involvement.