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Awareness of stress triggers in patients' lives can help mitigate uveitis flare-ups
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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.— Stress may be a modifiable risk factor for acute anterior uveitis flare-ups, according to a poster presentation here.
"It was our clinical impression that many patients with HLA-B27 positive uveitis related the recurrences to stress and stressful life events," Saskia M. Maca, MD, of the Medical University of Vienna, told Ocular Surgery News during a poster session at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology meeting.
Questionnaires were sent to nearly 400 patients of the uveitis unit at the university, and 171 responded to a standardized psychological questionnaire, as well as a socio-demographic data sheet, and questions about stress and trigger situations, according to the abstract.
About 58% of the respondents said their flare-ups were triggered by stressful life events, including a death in the family, separation or divorce, illness and difficulties at work.
Clinicians should be aware of the relationship between stress and flare-ups and advise patients appropriately. Doing so may help their quality of life, Dr. Maca said.
"We tell our patients about this theory, especially the ones who are new with this disease," she said. "A lot of patients later on tell us, now that they know stress might be a trigger, they look out for the situations and try to better deal with them."
Dr. Maca said her next goal is to look at how hormones influence flare-ups.
"It might be interesting to look at serotonin levels in the future," she said.