Pregnancy outcomes in women with vitiligo: A Taiwanese nationwide cohort study

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 16; no. 3; p. e0248651
• Main Authors: Hung, Chih-Tsung, Huang, Hsin-Hui, Wang, Chun-Kai, Chung, Chi-Hsiang, Tsao, Chang-Huei, Chien, Wu-Chien, Wang, Wei-Ming
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 22.03.2021; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Abortion; Armed forces; Azathioprine; Biology and Life Sciences; Cohort analysis; Comorbidity; Complications and side effects; Defense programs; Dermatology; Diabetes mellitus; Editing; Electronic mail; Funding; Growth rate; Gynecology; Health care facilities; Health insurance; Health risks; Immunology; Injury prevention; Medical research; Medicine and Health Sciences; Methodology; Microbiology; Military; Mucosa; Obstetrics; Patient outcomes; Patients; People and Places; Phototherapy; Pre-eclampsia; Pregnancy; Pregnancy, Complications of; Public health; Risk factors; Skin diseases; Social Sciences; Vitiligo; Womens health; Taiwan
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0248651

Vitiligo is perceived as an autoimmune skin disease. Previous studies showed conflicting data about vitiligo and pregnancy outcomes. To delineate the associations between vitiligo and the pregnancy outcomes, we used the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan to conduct a retrospective cohort study from January 1, 2000 to December 31, 2015. This study population was composed of 1,096 women with vitiligo and 4,384 women without vitiligo, who were all matched according to age, comorbidity, and index year. Compared with the non-vitiligo controls, women with vitiligo had a higher risk of abortion (aHR 1.158, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.095-1.258, P < .001). Perinatal events, such as preterm delivery, pre-eclampsia/eclampsia, gestational diabetes mellitus, stillbirth, and intrauterine growth retardation, were not different between both groups (aHR 1.065, 95% CI 0.817-1.157, P = .413). To determine if systemic treatment before conception decreases the risk of abortion, we assessed the medical history of pregnant women with vitiligo 1 year before pregnancy. Patients who were treated with oral medications had a lower risk of abortion than those who were not (aHR: 0.675, 95% CI: 0.482-0.809, P < .001). Our study indicates that there is a higher risk of abortion in pregnant women with vitiligo and the control of disease activity with systemic treatment before conception could improve pregnancy outcomes.