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Keep current uveitis screening standards for JRA patients, physicians urge
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NEW HYDE PARK, N.Y. — A normal initial eye examination does not preclude the development of uveitis in children with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, according to a study. Physicians found that when uveitis was absent at the initial exam of patients with JRA, the mean time to develop it was 20 months.
As a result, several physicians here recommend against decreasing the frequency of eye exams, despite what some have called a low yield of positive findings after initial normal eye exams. They recommend continuing the current standards for ophthalmic exams to screen for uveitis set by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Sylvia Kodsi, MD, and colleagues reviewed the charts of all patients with JRA seen by two pediatric ophthalmologists here at Schneider Children’s Hospital from 1984 to 2001. Of the 158 patients with JRA who had eye examinations, 25% developed uveitis. Sixteen patients had uveitis on the initial eye exam; the remaining patients developed uveitis 4 to 81 months after the initial exam. The mean time to uveitis development was 20 months.
The study is published in the December issue of Journal of the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus.