218 Vitiligo and vitamin D

Abstract

Vitiligo has been associated with certain polymorphisms in the vitamin D receptor gene and it is hypothesized that low serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels may confer an increased risk of vitiligo. However, studies investigating this relationship have yielded conflicting results. Using data from large prospective studies including the Nurses’ Healthy Study (NHS), Nurses’ Health Study II (NHS II) and Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS), we identified 408 incident cases of vitiligo among 662,195 participants and investigated the relationship between risk of incident vitiligo and: (1) dietary vitamin D intake, (2) supplemental vitamin D intake, (3) total vitamin intake (sum of dietary and supplemental intake) and (4) vitamin D score. The vitamin D score, an estimate of plasma levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D, was calculated using a validated multivariate linear regression model. The vitamin D score is based on known life-style determinants of plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D, such as age, race, ultraviolet flux at residence, dietary vitamin D and supplemental vitamin D, among others. Cox proportional hazard models were used to compute hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Intakes of total vitamin D, dietary vitamin D, and supplemental vitamin D, as well as vitamin D score, were not associated with risk of incident vitiligo. The multivariate HRs for top versus bottom quintiles of vitamin D score were 1.22 (95% CI 0.75-1.99; Ptrend 0.46) in NHS, 1.09 (95% CI 0.53-2.25; Ptrend 0.75) in NHSII and 1.10 (95% CI 0.64-1.88; Ptrend 0.74) in HPFS. These data suggest no major role of vitamin D intake or circulating vitamin D levels in development of vitiligo.