Investigation of vitamin D levels in patients with vitiligo vulgaris.

The aim of the study was to investigate serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH) D3) levels in patients with vitiligo vulgaris in terms of causal relation and extension of the disorder. This study is a clinical cross-sectional study carried out in order to determine 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels among 25 patients with vitiligo vulgaris and in 41 controls. Fitzpatrick skin phototypes, history of autoimmune disease, family history of vitiligo, and duration of the disease were also evaluated. The mean levels of vitamin D in patient and the control group were 15.2±5.2 ng/dL and 14.4±6.2 ng/dL respectively (P>0.05). In our study, 48% of the patients had insufficient (<30 ng/mL) and 52% had very low (<15 ng/mL) levels of vitamin D. There was no correlation between age, duration of the disease, and body surface area affected with vitamin D levels. There was no significant difference in vitamin D levels between patients who had family history of vitiligo (5 patients, 20%) and those that did not. Vitamin D levels were found to be insufficient (<30 ng/mL) or very low (<15 ng/mL) in most of the patients with vitiligo vulgaris, but not statistically significantly different as a group when compared to the controls. More studies are needed to differentiate between the effects of low vitamin D levels on pathogenesis of vitiligo vulgaris and lower vitamin D levels as a result of the disease.