PATTERNS OF UVEITIS AT A TERTIARY REFERRAL CENTER IN YEMEN: ONE CENTRAL RETROSPECTIVE STUDY

Abstract

Background: Uveitis is described as a disorder of the eye so as to leads to the iris, ciliary body, choroid, and adjacent parts of the eye inflammation. The disturbances may produce impermanent or continuing visual impairment or sightlessness. Purpose: The main purpose of the study was to reveal the causes of uveitis in a referral center in Sana'a city, Yemen. Sequentially the study was conducted to assist in the development and design of preventive policies and diagnostic methods for uveitis in Yemen. Methods: This cross-sectional, retrospective analysis integrated 65 uveitis patients who were referred to the Eye Consulting Center clinic, from January 2021 to the end of December 2021. Data concerning patient gender, age and anatomical location of disease, clinical and pathological manifestations were collected then evaluated. Results: The mean patient age at onset of uveitis was 36.3 ± 13.4 (range: 9-75) years. The female to male ratio was 2.6: 1. Sixty-seven percent participated uveitis patients suffered from bilateral involvement. The predominant type was Pan-uveitis (46.2%), anterior acute uveitis (36.9%), intermediate acute uveitis (12.3%) while posterior acute uveitis was less common (4.6%). Considering medical conditions, 53.8% of patients had acute uveitis and 46.2% had chronic uveitis. Laterality, 38.5% had unilateral uveitis while most patients had bilateral uveitis. Also, 53.8% of patients developed complications. Given the possible causes, the most common diagnoses were 'idiopathic' (32.3%), HLA-B27-positive (21.5%), Behçet‘s syndrome (13.8%), and granulomatous uveitis (TB) (9.2%)., seronegative spondyloarthropathy (6.2%), Fuch’s uveitis (6.2%), followed by less common Vogt Koyanagi Harada (4.6%), herpetic uveitis (3.1%), and toxoplasmosis (3.1%). Conclusion: On the contrary to most uveitis epidemiologic studies the uveitis etiologic and clinical patterns were diverse in a tertiary referral center in Sana’a city, Yemen. Pan-uveitis and anterior acute uveitis were the most frequent clinical pattern in this study, and the most common related causes were HLA-B27 positive and Behçet's syndrome. Peer Review History: Received: 12 March 2022; Revised: 17 April; Accepted: 30 April, Available online: 15 May 2022 Academic Editor: Dr. Asia Selman Abdullah, Pharmacy institute, University of Basrah, Iraq, asia_abdullah65@yahoo.com UJPR follows the most transparent and toughest ‘Advanced OPEN peer review’ system. The identity of the authors and, reviewers will be known to each other. This transparent process will help to eradicate any possible malicious/purposeful interference by any person (publishing staff, reviewer, editor, author, etc) during peer review. As a result of this unique system, all reviewers will get their due recognition and respect, once their names are published in the papers. We expect that, by publishing peer review reports with published papers, will be helpful to many authors for drafting their article according to the specifications. Auhors will remove any error of their article and they will improve their article(s) according to the previous reports displayed with published article(s). The main purpose of it is ‘to improve the quality of a candidate manuscript’. Our reviewers check the ‘strength and weakness of a manuscript honestly’. There will increase in the perfection, and transparency. Received file: Reviewer's Comments: Average Peer review marks at initial stage: 6.5/10 Average Peer review marks at publication stage: 7.5/10 Reviewers: Dr. Jucimary Vieira dos Santos, Hemonorte Dalton Barbosa Cunha, Brazil, jucimaryvieira@yahoo.com.br Dr. Bilge Ahsen KARA, Ankara Gazi Mustafa Kemal Hospital, Turkey, ahsndkyc@gmail.com Similar Articles: PREVALENCE OF CNS TUMORS AND HISTOLOGICAL RECOGNITION IN THE OPERATED PATIENTS: 10 YEARS EXPERIENCE IN YEMEN