Abstract
ABSTRACT
Vitiligo can cause a substantial psychosocial burden. However, the clinical and patient‐reported features associated with impaired disease‐specific quality of life (QoL) in Japanese patients remain incompletely characterized. We conducted a multicenter, cross‐sectional questionnaire study to examine the associations between the Vitiligo‐specific Quality‐of‐Life (VitiQoL) instrument and clinical variables reported by patients and physicians. A total of 255 questionnaires were collected, and 227 patients with complete VitiQoL data were included in the main analysis. The mean VitiQoL total score was 40.6 ± 22.4. Higher VitiQoL scores were associated with female sex, exposed‐site involvement, and border hyperpigmentation, with scores increasing progressively with the number of involved exposed regions. VitiQoL scores showed a trend toward an inverse correlation with age. Lesion‐associated symptoms were also associated with higher VitiQoL scores, whereas non‐lesional skin symptoms were not. Lesion‐associated symptoms were associated with physician‐rated disease severity. Treatment response assessed by either patients or physicians was not associated with VitiQoL scores. In multivariable analysis, female sex, younger age, a greater number of exposed regions, and border hyperpigmentation were independently associated with higher VitiQoL scores, whereas physician‐rated disease severity and lesion‐associated symptoms were not. These findings highlight the multifactorial nature of QoL impairment in vitiligo and the importance of incorporating both clinical and patient‐reported features into the assessment of QoL beyond repigmentation‐based treatment response.