Family History of Both Vitiligo and Psoriasis Appears to Increase
Risk of Autoimmune Disease, Heart Disease and Hypertension.
A study of 154 Italian vitiligo patients showed that those patients who also had psoriasis faced a greater chance of also having family history of cardiovascular disease and hypertension. They also found that vitiligo patients with a family history of both vitiligo and psoriasis had nearly a 50% chance of having celiac disease, lupus, megaloblastic anemia, and allergic rhinitis, all autoimmune disorders suspected to be linked to vitiligo. For those with both vitiligo and psoriasis, but no family history for either skin disease, the risk of these disorders went down to 21%.
For those with a family history of vitiligo or psoriasis or both, the chance of having a family history of cardiovascular disease and hypertension increased. Though the trend did not reach statistical significance in this study, they did report that:
A family history of cardiovascular disease was present in:
10% of 52 patients with vitiligo and a family history of vitiligo;
13% of 15 patients with vitiligo as well as a family history of both vitiligo and psoriasis;
18% of the 16 patients with vitiligo and a family history of psoriasis.
Similarly, a strong family history of hypertension was present in:
4% of vitiligo patients,
8% of those with both vitiligo and a family history of vitiligo,
13% with vitiligo and a family history of both psoriasis and vitiligo,
25% of vitiligo patients with a family history of psoriasis, and
26% of patients carrying diagnoses of both vitiligo and psoriasis but no family history of either skin disease.
The researchers also looked at diagnosed psychiatric disorders. They found:
zero prevalence of diagnosed psychiatric disorders in patients with vitiligo with or without a family history of vitiligo,
7% prevalence in those with vitiligo and a family history of both vitiligo and psoriasis,
6% in those with vitiligo and a family history of psoriasis, and
5% in patients with both vitiligo and psoriasis.
Editor’s Note: Recent research has reported that vitiligo and psoriasis share a gene on chromosome 1. Another group of researchers in China and Canada recently reported that both vitiligo and psoriasis share a second common genetic locus linked to the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) on chromosome 6. The MHC locus is one of the extensively studied regions in the human genome. Large-scale studies have identified a number of genetic variants that increase the risk of a variety of autoimmune disorders, including multiple sclerosis, Type 1 diabetes, systemic lupus erythematosus, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, and rheumatoid arthritis. Earlier studies had also reported that MHC loci are likely to play some important roles in psoriasis and vitiligo.
Courtesy of Spring Newsletter – Vitiligo Support International