A recent study published in eBioMedicine has revealed that individuals with vitiligo face an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), including strokes and major adverse cardiovascular events. Researchers from the United States conducted a comprehensive analysis over a 15-year period, comparing patients with vitiligo to those without.
Study Details
Researchers analyzed data from the TriNetX database, which includes deidentified health records from 57 U.S. healthcare organizations. Patients with a history of cardiovascular disease were excluded from the analysis. Two groups were formed: those with vitiligo (100,047 patients) and a control group without vitiligo (7,537,768 patients).
To eliminate bias, the groups were matched based on age, sex, and other health factors. The average age of patients with vitiligo was 38.8 years, with 54.2% being female and 53.5% identifying as White. Cardiovascular outcomes were monitored for 15 years following diagnosis.
The study employed a propensity-score matching technique to balance the cohorts, resulting in 96,581 patients in each group. Sensitivity analyses were conducted to validate the findings under different criteria and shorter follow-up durations.
Results And Discussion
The study found that 8.8% of vitiligo patients were overweight or obese, and 6.6% reported a history of nicotine dependence. A total of 94 cardiovascular diagnoses were identified, with significant increases in ten categories, including heart valve diseases and heart failure. Specifically, 54 diagnoses showed a notably higher risk in vitiligo patients, such as sick sinus syndrome (hazard ratio [HR] 1.58) and hypertensive chronic kidney disease (HR 1.52).
Among the patients, 4,028 with vitiligo were diagnosed with major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), compared to 3,042 in the control group, indicating a higher risk (HR 1.28) in those with vitiligo. The increased risks for cerebrovascular diseases were particularly notable, with a greater incidence of cerebral infarction.
Patients with vitiligo experienced cardiovascular events approximately 2.95 years earlier than their counterparts.
Conditions like sick sinus syndrome appeared 5.5 years earlier in vitiligo patients, suggesting a need for earlier cardiovascular screenings and management.
While the study benefits from its large sample size, limitations include its retrospective design, potential coding errors, and a lack of detailed clinical information on vitiligo. Additionally, factors such as selection bias and privacy regulations may have restricted deeper analysis.
Conclusion
This study indicates that patients with vitiligo may face an elevated risk of cardiovascular disease, emphasizing the importance of monitoring and preventive care for this population. Further research is necessary to explore the causal relationship between vitiligo and cardiovascular risk, as well as the underlying mechanisms involved. Future studies could focus on prospective clinical trials to validate these findings.
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