Abstract
Purpose :
There are very few, if any, prior studies describing the epidemiology of uveitis in the Australian population. The aim of our research project is to determine the incidence and prevalence of uveitis in a large, well-defined population of metropolitan Melbourne through a retrospective, cross-sectional study.
Methods :
The Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital (RVEEH) is a quaternary referral hospital with the only dedicated Ophthalmology Emergency Department (ED) in the State of Victoria. Data regarding all patients who presented to the RVEEH ED with a diagnostic code related to uveitis, and all patients who attended a specialist uveitis clinic at the RVEEH, from November 2014 through to October 2015 were collected. Detailed gender- and age-stratified population data were obtained from the 2015 Government census. Medical records were reviewed by two health professionals to confirm the date of diagnosis, sub-type of uveitis and underlying aetiology. Incidence rates were calculated by using a dynamic population model. Prevalence rates were based on the census population of metropolitan Melbourne during the study period.
Results :
The adult population of metropolitan Melbourne used for the study was 1 174 302 people. During the study period, 685 new cases of uveitis were diagnosed and 528 cases of pre-existing uveitis requiring ongoing treatment were identified. These data yielded an incidence of 58.3/100 000 person years and a period prevalence of 103.3/100 000 persons. Of the 1213 cases identified, anterior uveitis was diagnosed in 850 patients (70%), intermediate uveitis in 82 patients (6.8%), posterior uveitis in 201 patients (16.6%) and panuveitis in 80 patients (6.6%). At the time of presentation, 254 patients (20.9%) had a diagnosed autoimmune condition and 195 patients (16.1%) had an infective aetiology. There was no statistically significant difference in incidence or prevalence of uveitis between males and females (P>0.05).
Conclusions :
In this first uveitis epidemiology study in an Australian population, the incidence and prevalence values of uveitis were similar to those rates reported in recent U.S. studies. In our population, uveitis more commonly affected the elderly and did not affect females significantly more than males.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2017 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Baltimore, MD, May 7-11, 2017.