Abstract
Purpose: :
To determine the prevalence of a family history of any type of systemic or organ-specific autoimmune disease in patients with previous history of Ocular Inflammatory Disease (OID).
Methods: :
A survey was conducted on patients attending the uveitis practice and uveitis clinic at a tertiary care referral eye center on five particular days in November 2008. IRB approval was obtained and participation was voluntary. All patients had to have a non-infectious inflammation of non-traumatic origin. All patients attending the office/ clinic on those days were given the option to participate and complete a specific questionnaire regarding family history. The family history was analyzed for first, second, and third degree relatives.
Results: :
A total of 47 patients (36 women and 11 men) with uveitis, participated in the study. We found that 30 (63.83%) patients (95% CI: 49.57, 78.09) had a family history of one or more systemic or organ- specific autoimmune disease in a total of 50 relatives. Twenty-six of these were first-degree relatives, 21 were second degree and three (8%) were third degree. Four patients had a family history of OID. Rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis were the most common associations and type 1 diabetes was present in 3 relatives.
Conclusions: :
Families of patients with OID in this pilot study appear to have significantly increased risk of having an autoimmune disease, with rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis being the most common diseases present. Confirmation of this data by further studies may help in designing genetic studies in families with OID and to further explore the probable associations.
Keywords: uveitis-clinical/animal model • autoimmune disease • clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: risk factor assessment