Abstract
Purpose :
Previous studies have looked at seasonal variation in uveitis with mixed results. The geographic variability and population differences between these studies makes their findings difficult to generalize. As such, this retrospective chart review sought to test the hypothesis that initial presentation and flare-up of non-infectious anterior, intermediate and posterior uveitis varies by month and by season, specifically among the patient population in Connecticut.
Methods :
We reviewed the medical records of all adult patients presenting with a chief concern or diagnosis of “uveitis” within the Yale New Haven Health system between March 2013 and February 2019. Cases of chronic and exogenous uveitis were excluded. Information was collected on patient month and year of onset, age, sex, disease classification, and whether the episode was a new presentation or flare-up. Listwise deletion was used to exclude any records for which these variables were missing. Chi-squared testing was used to evaluate variation in uveitis presentation based on month, calendar season, and temperature (warm – June to September, transitional – April, May, October and November, cold – December to March). This study was approved by the Yale School of Medicine Institutional Review Board.
Results :
The medical records of 170 patients were analyzed. 63 cases of endogenous uveitis were identified among 48 patients, with 28 cases representing new presentations and 35 representing flare-ups. The mean age of patients was 51 years (range 19 years to 98 years), with 57% females and 43% males. 43% of patients had a comorbid autoimmune condition, including HLA-B27-associated disease, psoriasis, ulcerative colitis, and sarcoidosis. There was no significant variation on the basis of month (p=0.24) or temperature (p=0.14), but analysis of calendar season showed borderline significance (p=0.057). Among the subset of patients with comorbid autoimmune conditions, temperature was found to be statistically significant (p=0.016), with the largest number of cases occurring in the transitional months. Calendar season was of borderline significance for this subset (p=0.050), and there was no variation on the basis of month.
Conclusions :
The results indicate that disease occurrence varies based on season and temperature in uveitis patients with comorbid autoimmune conditions in Connecticut.
This is a 2020 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.