Unraveling the Spectrum of Uveitis: Insights from an Epidemiological Study in a National Referral Center in Northern Italy

ABSTRACT

Purpose

Uveitis embraces a heterogeneous group of vision-threatening inflammatory conditions. Understanding uveitis epidemiology, etiology, and clinical findings is fundamental for a prompt diagnosis and optimal patient management. The aim of the study is to report the epidemiology of uveitis in a national referral center in Northern Italy and investigate the visual prognosis.

Methods

This retrospective study was conducted at Uveitis Service (Ospedale San Raffaele) between June 2016 and May 2023. Demographic data, clinical characteristics, and etiological diagnoses of uveitis patients were collected, and visual prognosis was longitudinally explored.

Results

1105 patients with uveitis were included in the study, while 47 patients presented neoplastic masquerade syndrome and have been excluded. The population had a slight majority of females (M/F ratio = 0.76), mean age was 47 years. 25% presented infectious uveitis, primarily due to herpetic etiology, toxoplasmosis, and tuberculosis. Non-infectious uveitis was the most prevalent diagnosis (38%), with sarcoidosis, HLA-B27-associated uveitis, and Fuch’s uveitis as prominent causes. Anatomically, anterior segment was most frequently involved (41%). Significant improvement in visual acuity was observed at follow-up, particularly in patients with infectious uveitis.

Conclusions

Our study sheds light into the epidemiological landscape of uveitis in Northern Italy, reflecting changing patterns due to factors such as migration and changing sexual habits. In particular, higher percentages of syphilis have been observed, compared to other European reports. The distribution of non-infectious uveitis reflects other epidemiological European series. Higher percentages of neoplastic masquerade syndromes support the need of early recognition. Our findings offer precious insights for uveitis epidemiology and daily clinical practice.

KEYWORDS:

• Epidemiology
• infectious etiologies
• non-infectious uveitis
• uveitis
• visual prognosis

Contributorship statement

All the authors contributed to the conception or design of the work, the acquisition, analysis, and interpretation of data, drafting of the work, revising it critically for intellectual content. Each of the coauthors has seen and agrees with how their name is listed. This article contains additional online-only material. The following should appear online only:

Disclosure statement

Matteo Menean, Pierluigi Scandale, Aurelio Apuzzo, Costanza Barresi, Lisa Checchin, Gaia L’Abbate, Federico Fantaguzzi, Federico Rissotto, Andrea Servillo, Elena Cucuccio, Giulio Modorati, Alessandro Marchese, Maria Vittoria Cicinelli, Elisabetta Miserocchi: No financial disclosures.

Francesco Bandello consultant for: Allergan Inc (Irvine, California, USA), Bayer Schering-Pharma (Berlin, Germany), Hoffmann-La-Roche (Basel, Switzerland), Novartis (Basel, Switzerland), Sanofi-Aventis (Paris, France), Thrombogenics (Heverlee, Belgium), Zeiss (Dublin, USA), Boehringer-Ingelheim, Fidia Sooft, Ntc Pharma, Sifi

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, EM, upon reasonable request.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/09273948.2024.2348117

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported that there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.