Characteristics of vitiligo in Korean children

Eighty Korean children (ages 8 months-12 years) with clinical and/or histop athologic diagnoses of vitiligo were evaluated; 39 boys and 41 girls. The m ean age at first visit was 7.9 years and the mean age at onset was 5.6 year s. The most common site of onset was the head/neck area (58.8%), followed b y the trunk and lower limbs. The children were compared with a control grou p of 422 adults with vitiligo. Children comprised 16% of the total vitiligo patients and adults comprised 84%. A family history of vitiligo was found in 11 (13.8%) children, compared to 10.7% in the adult group; poliosis in 2 0 (25.0%); halo nevi in 2 (2.5%), compared to 4.0% in the adult group; comb ined autoimmune and endocrine diseases in 1 (1.3%), compared to 7.6% in the adult group; and segmental vitiligo in 26 (32.5%), compared to 13.0% in th e adult group. The combined diseases were significantly less often found in children than adults (p < 0.01), and segmental vitiligo was significantly more often associated with children (p < 0.0001). Our study did not show a higher prevalence of vitiligo in girls as reported in other studies, which may indicate racial differences. Of the total 502 patients, only 1 patient with segmental vitiligo had halo nevi, Sixty-four percent of the children w ith vitiligo responded to treatment, compared to 57% of the adults.