Abstract
Purpose :
To investigate the potential association between uveitis and an increased risk of developing Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
Methods :
The whole population cohort was collected retrospectively from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database between January 1, 2001, and December 31, 2013. A total of 198,923 subjects with uveitis were enrolled in the uveitis group, and 397,846 subjects without uveitis were enrolled in the comparison group. The two groups were matched on age, gender and index date. They were compared in the cumulative incidence of subsequent IBD during the study period. Adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of IBD corresponding to uveitis was generated by multivariate cox regression model after adjustment of hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, obesity and smoking. Furthermore, the HRs of Crohn’s disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC), which are subtypes of IBD, were calculated separately.
Results :
The mean age of the cohort was 47.7 years. Uveitis patients had significantly higher proportions of hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, obesity and smoking than the comparisons. A significantly higher cumulative incidence of IBD was found in the uveitis group than in the non-uveitis group (4.13% vs. 1.48%, p<0.0001). Under the univariate cox regression analysis, patients with uveitis had a significantly higher risk of IBD compared to those without uveitis (HR=1.47; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.43-1.52, p<0.0001). The result remains significant in the multivariate regression model, with an adjusted HR of 1.44 (95% CI: 1.39-1.49, p<0.0001). Moreover, when analyzed separately, uveitis was significantly associated with an increased risk of Crohn's disease (adjusted HR=1.49; 95% CI: 1.44-1.54), but not significantly associated with ulcerative colitis (adjusted HR=1.03; 95% CI: 0.92–1.15).
Conclusions :
People with uveitis are at significantly greater risk of developing IBD than individuals without uveitis.
This is a 2021 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.