Cancer Risks in Vitiligo Patients: A Nationwide Population-Based Study in Taiwan

• Published in: International journal of environmental research and public health Vol. 15; no. 9; p. 1847
• Main Authors: Li, Cheng-Yuan, Dai, Ying-Xiu, Chen, Yi-Ju, Chu, Szu-Ying, Chen, Tzeng-Ji, Wu, Chen-Yi, Chen, Chih-Chiang, Lee, Ding-Dar, Chang, Yun-Ting
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 27.08.2018; MDPI
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Bladder cancer; Breast cancer; Breast Neoplasms - epidemiology; Breast Neoplasms - etiology; Databases, Factual; Female; Females; Follow-Up Studies; Health risk assessment; Health risks; Humans; Immune system; Incidence; Male; Males; Melanocytes; Middle Aged; Patients; Population (statistical); Population studies; Population-based studies; Prostate cancer; Prostatic Neoplasms - epidemiology; Prostatic Neoplasms - etiology; Retrospective Studies; Risk Factors; Statistical analysis; Studies; Taiwan - epidemiology; Thyroid cancer; Thyroid Neoplasms - epidemiology; Thyroid Neoplasms - etiology; Tumorigenesis; Urinary Bladder Neoplasms - epidemiology; Urinary Bladder Neoplasms - etiology; Vitamin D; Vitiligo; Vitiligo - complications; Taiwan; prostate cancer; malignancy; bladder cancer; Taiwan; vitiligo; breast cancer; thyroid cancer
• ISSN: 1660-4601; 1661-7827; 1660-4601
• DOI: 10.3390/ijerph15091847

Vitiligo is an autoimmune disease characterized by destruction of melanocytes and associated with other autoimmune disease. Whether the dysregulation of immune system enhances oncogenesis or not remains obscure. Until now, no nationwide population-based study has been conducted regarding this. As such, this paper aims to clarify cancer risk in vitiligo patients. A retrospective nationwide population-based cohort study between 2000 and 2010 was performed based on data from the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan. Standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) of cancers were analyzed. Among the 12,391 vitiligo patients (5364 males and 7027 females) and 48,531.09 person-years of observation, a total of 345 cancers were identified. Significantly increased SIRs were observed for prostate cancer in male patients, thyroid cancer and breast cancer in female patients and bladder cancers in both male and female patients. Unfortunately, the low incidence rate of certain cancers limited the power of our statistical analyses. This study demonstrated the patterns of malignancies in vitiligo patients of Taiwan. Compared with the general population, male patients had higher risks of prostate cancer and female patients had higher risks of thyroid cancer and breast cancer. The risks of bladder cancer were also increased in both male and female patients.