Patterns of Uveitis at a Tertiary Referral Center in Northeastern Iran

PURPOSE: To describe the demographic and clinical patterns of patients with uveitis referred to a tertiary center in northeastern Iran. METHODS: This cross-sectional retrospective study included 235 patients with uveitis who had been referred to the uveitis clinic of Khatam-Al-Anbia eye hospital, affiliated to Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, from February 2013 to March 2014. Data regarding patient age, sex, anatomical location of the disease, and etiologic and clinical features were analyzed. RESULTS: Mean patient age at the onset of uveitis was 35.75 ± 16.3 (range: 3–82) years. The ratio of females to males was 1.5 to 1. Sixty-four percent had bilateral involvement. The predominant type of inflammation was non-granulomatous (76%). Panuveitis (46.8%, 110 cases) was the most common form of uveitis followed by anterior (37%, 87 cases), intermediate (11.9%, 28 cases), and posterior uveitis (4.25%, 10 cases). The most common diagnoses were “idiopathic” in anterior and intermediate uveitis cases, toxoplasmosis in posterior uveitis group, and Behçet and Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada diseases in panuveitis cases. Overall, noninfectious causes (80.42%) of uveitis were more frequent than infectious causes (19.57%). The proportion of noninfectious uveitis was 82.75% in anterior uveitis, 78.18% in panuveitis, 92.85% in intermediate uveitis, and 50% in posterior uveitis. The most common associated systemic disease was Behçet disease. CONCLUSION: In contrast to most epidemiologic studies of uveitis, the clinical and etiologic patterns of uveitis were different in a tertiary referral center in northeastern Iran. Panuveitis was the most common clinical pattern in this study, and the most common associated systemic disease was Behçet disease.