Temporal Trends in Childhood Uveitis: Using Administrative Health Data to Investigate the Impact of Health Policy and Clinical Practice

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background We describe an investigation of temporal trends in the incidence of childhood uveitis-related hospital admissions, hospitalization being a robust indicator of disease severity. Methods A population-based retrospective study using a hospitalization database, the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) dataset, capturing data on care between 2013 and 2020. Primary outcomes were rates of pediatric hospital admissions for uveitis-related disorders. Results During the study period, there were 3,258 reported uveitis-related hospital admissions of children aged 0 to 14 years, comprising 19% of all-age uveitis-related admissions. Anterior uveitis was the most common diagnosis. The annual incidence of childhood uveitis-related hospitalizations declined year on year from a peak incidence of 5.4 per 100,000 children (95% confidence interval 5.0–5.9) in 2015–2016 to 3.3 per 100,000 (95% CI 3.0–3.6) in 2019–2020. Over the same period, the national incidence of juvenile arthropathy-related admissions stayed stable. Conclusion The decline in admissions nationally may reflect reduced incidence of uveitis complications with increasing use of immunosuppressive therapies.