Trial reportHealth technology assessment (Winchester, England)2020
Home-based narrowband UVB, topical corticosteroid or combination for children and adults with vitiligo: HI-Light Vitiligo three-arm RCT.
Trial report in Health technology assessment (Winchester, England), 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 38 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Use of Blue Light as an Antimicrobial Treatment Against Staphylococcus aureus: A Systematic Review.Lasers in surgery and medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Second Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Vitiligo in Japan (2025).The Journal of dermatology · 2026Guideline
- The value of qualitative research in randomized controlled trials involving drugs and medical devices: a systematic mapping review.International journal of technology assessment in health care · 2026Pooled it
- The humanistic burden of vitiligo: a systematic literature review of quality-of-life outcomes.Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology : JEADV · 2022Pooled it
- Psychosocial Effects of Vitiligo: A Systematic Literature Review.American journal of clinical dermatology · 2021Pooled it
- Prescribing and using vitiligo treatments: lessons from a nested process evaluation within the HI-Light vitiligo randomized controlled trial.Clinical and experimental dermatology · 2022Trial
- A Review of Randomized Controlled Trials for Vitiligo Therapies Published Between 2013 and 2023.Cureus · 2026Review
- Perinatal and Childhood Risk Factors of Adverse Early Childhood Developmental Outcomes: A Systematic Review Using a Socioecological Model.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Vitiligo.Journal der Deutschen Dermatologischen Gesellschaft = Journal of the German Society of Dermatology : JDDG · 2025Review
- Vitiligo Treated with Combined Piperine-Based Topical Treatment and Narrowband Ultraviolet B Therapy: Follow-Up with Reflectance Confocal Microscopy.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Characteristics and decreased Vitiligo Area Scoring Index of vitiligo patients with narrowband-UVB phototherapy in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.Dermatology reports · 2023Article
- Vitiligo: Current Therapies and Future Treatments.Dermatology practical & conceptual · 2023Review
- Advances in vitiligo: Update on therapeutic targets.Frontiers in immunology · 2022Review
- Melanogenesis and Hypopigmentation: The Case of Vitiligo.Indian journal of dermatologyReview
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
35 authors at 17 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundSystematic reviews suggest that narrowband ultraviolet B light combined with treatments such as topical corticosteroids may be more effective than monotherapy for vitiligo.
objectiveTo explore the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of topical corticosteroid monotherapy compared with (1) hand-held narrowband ultraviolet B light monotherapy and (2) hand-held narrowband ultraviolet B light/topical corticosteroid combination treatment for localised vitiligo.
designPragmatic, three-arm, randomised controlled trial with 9 months of treatment and a 12-month follow-up.
settingSixteen UK hospitals - participants were recruited from primary and secondary care and the community.
participantsAdults and children (aged ≥ 5 years) with active non-segmental vitiligo affecting ≤ 10% of their body area.
interventionsTopical corticosteroids [mometasone furoate 0.1% (Elocon
main outcome measuresThe primary outcome was self-assessed treatment success for a chosen target patch after 9 months of treatment ('a lot less noticeable' or 'no longer noticeable' on the Vitiligo Noticeability Scale). Secondary outcomes included blinded assessment of primary outcome and percentage repigmentation, onset and maintenance of treatment response, quality of life, side effects, treatment burden and cost-effectiveness (cost per additional successful treatment).
resultsIn total, 517 participants were randomised (adults, LIMITATIONS: Relatively high loss to follow-up limits the interpretation of the trial findings, especially during the post-intervention follow-up phase.
conclusionHand-held narrowband ultraviolet B light plus topical corticosteroid combination treatment is superior to topical corticosteroids alone for treatment of localised vitiligo. Combination treatment was relatively safe and well tolerated, but was effective in around one-quarter of participants only. Whether or not combination treatment is cost-effective depends on how much decision-makers are willing to pay for the benefits observed. FUTURE WORK: Development and testing of new vitiligo treatments with a greater treatment response and longer-lasting effects are needed.
trial registrationCurrent Controlled Trials ISRCTN17160087.
fundingThis project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment programme and will be published in full in
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.