Abstract
Purpose: :
To analyze the demographic distribution of uveitis, scleritis and episcleritis in children under the age of 16, clinical and anatomic diagnosis, systemic associations and the most frequent complications
Methods: :
The clinical records from May 2001 to May 2005 of children under the age of 16 referred to the uveitis clinic at our institution were reviewed retrospectively.
Results: :
: A total of 257 pediatric patients were identified, 44% were female and 56% were male. The mean age was 9.6 years (SD 4.5). Anterior uveitis was reported in 16% of the cases, intermediate in 51%, panuveitis in 5% and posterior uveitis in 26%. Scleritis was found in 0.7% and epiescleritis in 1.5% of the cases. The cause of the uveitis was infectious in 32% and non infectious in 68%. The mean follow up was 12 months. The most frequent diagnosis was idiophatic pars planitis in 51% followed by toxoplasmosis 18%, idiopathic anterior uveitis in 9% and toxocariasis in 7.2%. In the case of pars planitis the mean age was 9.3 years (SD 3.82) and males were more affected than females. Glaucoma, cataract, maculopathy and band keratopathy were more frequent among the group with pars planitis. Complications were present in more than 50% of the patients. The systemic associations found were Juvenile Rheumatoid arthritis, Voght Koyanagi Harada and HLA B27 associated diseases
Conclusions: :
These results differ from the ones published by other authors in the USA and Europe. The most common cause of uveitis in our study is intermediate uveitis in the form of idiophatic pars planitis followed by posterior uveitis. Toxoplasmosis and toxocariasis in México still remain a major cause of posterior uveitis in the pediatric population .Uveitis in children still represents a challenge in diagnosis and treatment; despite the lower incidence or uveitis in children vs adults the complications are frequent and represent an important cause of ocular morbidity in the pediatric population.