The effects of tacrolimus plus phototherapy in the treatment of vitiligo: a meta-analysis

The objective of this meta-analysis was performed to compare the effects of tacrolimus plus phototherapy in the treatment of patients with vitiligo. Relevant studies were identified by searching PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science databases. The main outcomes of interest included excellent response ( ≥ 75% repigmentation), good response (50–75% repigmentation), moderate response (25%–50% repigmentation), and poor response (<  25% repigmentation). Risk ratio (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) was used to calculate the data. Eleven studies were included in this study. Compared with phototherapy alone, combination treatment of tacrolimus and phototherapy significantly improved excellent response rate (RR = 1 .40, 95% CI 1.16, 1.69;P <  0.001) and reduced the poor response rate (RR = 0.37, 95% CI 0.22, 0.61;P = 0.001). However, the good response rate (RR = 1.00, 95% CI 0.59, 1.69,P = 1.000) and moderate response rate (RR = 0.91, 95% CI 0.60, 1.38;P = 0.653) were not significantly different between the two treatments. Subgroup analysis suggested that combination treatment had a higher excellent response rate than phototherapy alone for lesions located in the face and proximal limbs. Both NB-UVB and EL, when added to tacrolimus, resulted in a significantly higher excellent response rate than they were used alone. Meta-regression analysis showed that age was a predictive factor that influenced the effect of combination treatmen...
Source: Archives of Dermatological Research - Category: Dermatology Source Type: research