Vitiligo Is Associated with Hearing Loss in Children

Adults with vitiligo — an autoimmune disease characterized by loss of melanocytes, which are found in the skin, inner ear, and retina — face excess risk for hearing loss. To explore whether vitiligo in children also is associated with hearing loss or ocular disease, researchers retrospectively examined electronic health records of almost 22,000 children across 89 U.S. healthcare organizations. Mean age at diagnosis was 10 years, and most children had no other autoimmune diseases. The researchers used propensity-score matching to compare these children with those without vitiligo.