P079 The lifetime risk of vitiligo across sociodemographic groups: a UK population-based cohort study

The lifetime risk for vitiligo has not previously been estimated using large-scale population data. It is also not clear how the lifetime risk for vitiligo differs by sex, ethnicity and levels of socioeconomic deprivation. We aimed to estimate the lifetime incidence of vitiligo in the UK, overall and across sociodemographic subgroups. Incident cases of vitiligo were identified using a large database (Optimum Patient Care Database) of routinely collected primary care records in the UK between 1 January 2004 and 31 December 2020. Lifetime incidence of vitiligo was estimated at age 80 years using modified time-to-event models, adjusted for competing risk of death, with age as the timescale. Lifetime incidence was estimated for the study population overall and stratified by ethnicity, sex and deprivation. We identified 9460 adults and children newly diagnosed with vitiligo during the study period. The overall cumulative lifetime incidence in the population was 0.92% at age 80 years [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.90–0.94]. Lifetime incidence was similar in female (0.94%, 95% CI 0.92–0.97) and male patients (0.89%, 95% CI 0.86–0.92). There were substantial differences in lifetime incidence across ethnic groups: Asian (3.58%, 95% CI 3.38–3.78), Black (2.18%, 95% CI 1.85–2.50), mixed (2.03%, 95% CI 1.58–2.47), other (1.05%, 95% CI 0.94–1.17) and White ethnicity (0.73%, 95% CI 0.71–0.76). There were also substantial differences in the lifetime incidence across sociodemographic subgroup, with higher lifetime risk in the most deprived quintile (1.25%, 95% CI 1.20–1.31) compared with the least deprived quintile (0.81%, 95% CI 0.77–0.86). However, these differences appear to result from a higher proportion of people from non-White ethnicities in the lower socioeconomic subgroups. In post hoc analysis when restricting the sociodemographic analysis to those of White ethnicity only, the socioeconomic differences were negligible. Our estimates of lifetime incidence suggest that 1 in 109 people will develop vitiligo over their lifetime. Clinicians should be aware of the markedly increased incidence of vitiligo in people of non-White ethnicity, in particular for those of Asian ethnicity (1 in 28 people). The negative impact of vitiligo on mental health, work and healthcare utilization highlights the importance of monitoring people with vitiligo to identify those who need additional support. The study protocol for this retrospective observational study was registered a priori with ClinicalTrials.gov (identifier: NCT06097494). This research was sponsored by Pfizer. Project management, medical writing and statistical support were provided by Momentum Data, UK, and funded by Pfizer.