AB1054 CLINICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PATIENTS WITH UVEITIS FROM AN AUTOIMMUNE OCULAR DISEASE UNIT

Abstract

Background:The eye, particularly the uvea due to its substantial vascularization, can be a target for various inmune reactions. Etiology is unknown in most cases of inflamatory ocular disease. Ocassionally, ocular symptoms may be the first manifestation of some systemic diseases and its appearence, therefore, can lead us to the diagnosis and institution of treatment that, if performed early, can avoid irreversible sequelae.Aim: Describe the experience at 12 months of an autoinmune ocular disease unit.Objectives:to describe the clinical characteristics of patients diagnosed with uveitis and its association with systemic disease.Methods:Retrospective, descriptive study. We included patients diagnosed with uveitis attending the Autoimmune Eye Disease Unit from January 2019 to December 2019. Qualitative variables were expressed as frequencies and percentages and quantitative variables as means and standard deviation.Results:A total of 40 patients were included, 72.5% were women (26/40). Mean age of disease onset was 38 ± 17.2 years and the average diagnostic delay was 19.4 ± 46.8 months. The most frequent chief complaint was decrease in visual acuity, cited in 43.8% of the consults (25/57). Involvement was bilateral in 55% of cases (22/40). In order of decreasing frequency, diagnosis found were: Anterior uveitis in 47.5% (19/40), panuveitis in 35% (14/40), posterior uveitis in 10% (4/40) and intermediate uveitis in 7.5% (3/40). There was a recurrence (2 or more episodes of uveitis) in 65.7% (25/38) of patients and 58.8% (20/34) of them presented some sequelae. Prior to their first episode of uveitis, 12.5% (5/40) of patients had already been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, the most common of which was spondyloarthropathy (3/5). Meanwhile, 33.3% (13/39) were diagnosed with a systemic disease from their first episode of uveitis. Regarding laboratory tests, 46.4% (13/28) of patients presented acute phase reactants, 13% (3/23) had positive serum antibodies and 41.6% (5/12) were HLA-B27 positive. Concerning treatment, 76.3% of patients required systemic corticosteroids (29/38) and 75% received at least one immunosuppressive drug (30/40). Out of this group, 30% needed a second immunosuppressive drug. Response to treatment was good in 63.6% of patients (21/33), partial in 18.1% (6/33), poor despite treatment in 6% (2/33) and poor due to lack of adherence in 12.1% (4/33).Conclusion:In our cohort, there was a predominance of female, middle-aged patients with bilateral involvement. Anterior uveitis was the most frequent diagnosis. In one-third of patients, the first episode of uveitis led to diagnosis of a systemic disease. Most of our patients presented some type of sequel or local complication and required systemic treatment with corticosteroids and immunosuppressants.Disclosure of Interests:None declared