Pregnancy outcomes and vitiligo: protocol for a scoping review.

INTRODUCTION

Autoimmune disease can greatly affect pregnancy outcomes, leading to increased health risks for both mothers and fetuses. Vitiligo is a common chronic skin condition characterised by the loss of pigment. However, there is controversy regarding adverse pregnancy outcomes (APOs) associated with this condition. Our scoping review aims to explore and summarise the existing literature on pregnancy outcomes in patients with vitiligo.

METHOD

This scoping review will follow the five-stage methodological framework introduced by Arksey and O'Malley. This stages approach encompasses the following stages: (a) identifying the research questions, (b) identifying relevant research studies, (c) selecting studies, (d) extracting and charting the data and (e) summarising, analysing and reporting the results. We will search two databases, PubMed and Scopus, for published literature up to January 2025 using keywords related to pregnancy outcomes and vitiligo. All retrieved articles will be organised using EndNote software. Two trained reviewers will complete title and abstract screening, full-text screening and data charting. The data will be presented using different strategies, including tables and graphs, to map pregnancy outcomes in patients with vitiligo.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

The scoping review will not involve direct contact with humans or patients; therefore, ethical approval is not required for this protocol. The data analysis will focus on exploring APOs in patients with vitiligo. The results of this study will be published in peer-reviewed journals.