UVB phototherapy (which increases Vitamin D and VDR) decreased risk of many heart and stroke problems

Created July 2020

Both Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Events are Decreased Following Long-term NB- UVB Phototherapy in Patients with Vitiligo: A Propensity-score Matching Analysis

Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology doi: 10.1111/jdv.16830

Jung Min Bae, MD, PhD,1* Yoon-Seob Kim, MD,2* Eun Ho Choo, MD,3 Mi-Yeon Kim MD,4 Jun Young Lee, MD, PhD,5 Hyung-Ok Kim, MD, PhD,6 and Young Min Park, MD, PhD.5

This study is based on 3,000 Koreans following 10 years of UVB treatment* Vitiligo is associated with low vitamin D (nothing about treatment) – meta-analysis March 2016* Spotty skin coloring (vitiligo) treated by augmenting topical tacrolimus with oral Vitamin D – Oct 2016* Vitiligo (loss of skin pigment) treated by narrowband UVB* Vitiligo (spotty skin coloring) is 4 X more likely if poor Vitamin D Receptor – meta-analysis July 2018Items in both categories Vitamin D Receptor and UV are listed here: {category}Items in both categories Skin and UV are listed here: {category}Items in both categories Cardiovascular and UV are listed here: {category}Items in both categories Stroke and Vitamin D Receptor are listed here: {category}* Overview Stroke and vitamin D * Omega-3, Magnesium, Zinc, Quercetin, non-daily Vit D, Curcumin, intense exercise, Ginger, Essential oils, etc** Note: The founder of Vitamin D Life uses 10 of the 12 known VDR activators---Cardiovascular category starts with the following{include}

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Background: Systemic effects of long-term narrowband ultraviolet B (NB-UVB) phototherapy have not been well studied in vitiligo patients. An 11-year nationwide population-based retrospective cohort study was conducted using the Korean National Health Insurance claims database (2007-2017).

Objectives: To investigate the effects of long-term NB-UVB phototherapy on the risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events in vitiligo patients.

Methods: This study included vitiligo patients with >100 phototherapy sessions (phototherapy group, n = 3,229) and <3 phototherapy sessions (no phototherapy group, n = 9,687), in which covariables with age, sex, insurance type, and comorbidities such as diabetes, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia were matched by 1:3 propensity score matching. The outcomes of interest were cardiovascular (ischemic heart disease and myocardial infarction) and cerebrovascular events (cerebrovascular infraction and hemorrhage). Cox proportional hazards models were used to assess the associations between NB-UVB phototherapy and each event.

Results: The risk of cardiovascular or cerebrovascular events was significantly decreased in the phototherapy group compared with the no phototherapy group (hazard ratio [HR] 0.637, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.523-0.776). Subgroup analysis revealed that the risk of cardiovascular (HR 0.682, 95% CI 0.495-0.940) and cerebrovascular events (HR 0.601, 95% CI 0.470-0.769) were significantly lower in the phototherapy group than the no phototherapy group, respectively.

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that long-term NB-UVB phototherapy could decrease the risk of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events in patients with vitiligo.