Vitiligo also tends to occur more often with certain other autoimmune diseases, such as hyper- or hypo-thyroidism (an over- or under-active thyroid gland), adrenocortical insufficiency (underproduction of corticosteroid hormone by the adrenal gland), rheumatoid arthritis, adult-onset type 1 diabetes, psoriasis, systemic lupus erythematosus, and pernicious anemia (subnormal red blood cell level caused by inability to absorb vitamin B12). This suggests that these different autoimmune diseases probably share at least some predisposing genetic or environmental causal factors, although these mostly remain unknown.
Vitiligo affects both genders and all races, but is more noticeable in people with darker skin.
Vitiligo can start at any age but about half of those with vitiligo develop it before the age of 20, and about 95% before age 40.
Approximately 20% of vitiligo patients have a family member with the same condition. However, only 5% to 7% of children will get vitiligo even if a parent has it.
Dr. Richard Spritz has spent several years researching the genetics of vitiligo. His work began with families that have more than one member with vitiligo in hopes of isolating a gene. Through this work came his discovery of the NALP1 gene that seems linked to vitiligo and closely related autoimmune diseases. He is currently working on a genome association study that will take all of the genes within the human genome and examine them for the possibility of being associated with vitiligo. He has recruited teams of researchers in countries all over the world to join in this effort and collect saliva samples of both vitiligo patients and healthy controls in order to identify suspect genes. Study enrollment is ongoing and continually needed; all that is required is a questionnaire and a saliva sample. The more samples he has, both patient and control, the more likely it is that his team will have results that are meaningful. More information and his questionnaire can be found here Vitiligo Genetic Study. Your participation in this research is much appreciated.
Who Get Vitiligo ?
Millions of people worldwide have vitiligo. Nearly half get it before they reach 21 years of age. Most will have vitiligo for the rest of their lives. It is very rare for vitiligo to disappear.
Vitiligo occurs about equally in people of all skin colors and races. About half the people who get vitiligo are male and half are female.
The risk of getting vitiligo increases if a person has:
A close blood relative who has vitiligo.
An autoimmune disease, especially Hashimoto’s disease (a thyroid disease) or alopecia areata (causes hair loss).
The cause is not known. Vitiligo may be an autoimmune disease. These diseases happen when your immune system mistakenly attacks some part of your own body. In vitiligo, the immune system may destroy the melanocytes in the skin. It is also possible that one or more genes may make a person more likely to get the disorder.
Some researchers think that the melanocytes destroy themselves. Others think that a single event such as sunburn or emotional distress can cause vitiligo. But these events have not been proven to cause vitiligo
