AB1214 EPIDEMIOLOGY OF UVEITIS IN A SPANISH REGION: PREVALENCE AND ETIOLOGY, UVECAM PROJECT
Authors: Á. García-Aparicio, L. Del Olmo Pérez, S. Sánchez Fernandez, L. Alonso Martin, R. López Lancho, R. Quirós Zamorano, R. Jiménez Escribano, F. Gonzalez Del Valle, S. Muñoz Fernandez
Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (2020)

Background: Epidemiologic studies about the distribution of the various types of uveitis and their etiology are important in helping the clinician to investigate, diagnose, and manage these pathologies. Approximating prevalence of uveitis is an important public health challenge, though studies on this purpose are scarce and of low quality. Therefore it is difficult to estimate accurately the impact of this disease in our days. Objectives: To estimate the prevalence of uveitis and to describe its etiologic and anatomical pattern by means of a population study carried out in a Spanish region Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive, population-based, and multicentre study was conducted. The selection criteria consisted of having a diagnosis of uveitis. All data were collected from existing information in medical records. The clinical information was collected prospectively in all cases with a diagnosis of uveitis regardless its aetiology in the participating centres from the date of the study and during the following year. All patients underwent a complete ophthalmological examination with assessment of visual acuity, biomicroscopy, applanation tonometry and indirect funduscopy. Results: The target population was the 687,892 inhabitants of the province of Toledo (Spain). During the study 389 cases of uveitis were registered. The prevalence was 58.7 (95% CI 53.0-64.9). The mean age was 47.0±20.6 years, and 57.8% were women. The most prevalent anatomical pattern was the anterior uveitis (54.2; 95%CI 48.1-60.8). For adults, idiopathic constitute the group with the highest prevalence (31.7; 95%CI 27.1-36.9), and in children autoimmune etiology was the most frequent (10.6; 95%CI 5.8-17.7). The proportion of cases with autoimmune etiology was 23.3% in adults and 46.7% in children, with overall prevalences of 15.8 x10 5 and 10.6 x10 5 , respectively. Estimates were higher in women than in men, both in adults (17.8 vs. 4.4) and in children (17.1 vs. 13.3). In paediatric population the autoimmune processes most frequently responsible for uveitis are juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA; 64.3%) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS; 14.3%), with prevalence’s estimates of 6.8 and 4.5 x10 5 , respectively. In adults, the most common cause was AS (43.2%; 6.6 x10 5 ), followed by sarcoidosis (10.7%; 1.7 x10 5 ), other spondyloarthritis (SpA) (8.3%; 1.3 x10 5 ), psoriasis arthritis and Behçet’s disease (7.1%; 1.1 x10 5 in both cases). Conclusion: It is a precise population study that analyzes uveitis in a Spanish region, analyzing in detail different etiologies and anatomical patterns. The most common causes were idiopathic. Among the autoimmune causes, AS was the most common. Table Overall number and global prevalence by age and sex Sample size N (% ) Cases of uveitis N (% ) Prevalence (95% CI ) (X 100.000 ) TOTAL 662319 389 58.7 (53.0-64.9) Population (N=389 ) • Paediatrics 132464 31 (8.0) 23.4 (15.9-33.2) • Adults 529855 358 (92.0) 67.6 (60.7-74.9) Sex (N=377 ) • Men 337783 159 (42.2) 47.1 (40.0-55.0) • Women 324536 218 (57.8) 67.2 (58.5-76.7) Age groups in adults (N=358 ) • 18-30 90075 55 (15.4) 61.1 (46.0-77.5) • 31-44 148359 94 (26.3) 63.4 (51.2-77.5) • 45-54 100672 78 (21.8) 77.5 (61.2-96.7) • 55-64 74180 50 (14.0) 67.4 (50.0-88.9) • ≥65 116568 81 (22.6) 69.5 (55.2-86.4) Disclosure of Interests: None declared