Abstract
Purpose: :
To evaluate the clinical course and disease features in patients with Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada (VKH) disease focusing on age and gender.
Methods: :
We performed a retrospective review of the clinical course and disease features in patients with active VKH disease diagnosed and treated in our hospital between 2001 and 2010.
Results: :
102 patients were included in the study. Average age at onset was 40.6 ± 13.5 years. 39 patients were males (38.4 ± 12.8 years) and 63 were females (42.0 ± 13.9 years). 89 patients had clinical finding of serous retinal detachment (38 males, 51 females; 39.0 ± 12.3 years), and 13 patients had no clinically undetectable serous retinal detachment but manifested optic disc hyperemia and swelling (1 male, 12 females; 52.1 ± 16.1 years); the latter group was older (p=0.008) with higher female/male ratio (p=0.015). Cell count in cerebrospinal fluid was significantly lower in older patients (p=0.018). Patients who had recurrence or chronic ocular inflammation had older onset than patients with no recurrence or chronic ocular inflammation (47.6 ± 12.9 versus 39.9 ± 12.6 years, p=0.013), while cell counts in cerebrospinal fluid were not different between two groups (61.1±71.2 versus 100.5±137.3/μl, p=0.21). Patients who developed sunset fundus had older onset than those who did not (44.7 ± 14.0 versus 38.2 ± 11.0 years, p=0.02).
Conclusions: :
Symptom manifestation, recurrence or chronicity, cell count in cerebrospinal fluid, and development of sunset fundus in VKH disease vary depending on onset age and gender. Consequently, the clinical course of VKH disease may be affected by age at onset and gender.
Keywords: uveitis-clinical/animal model • clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: natural history