Study: Uveitis more common than previously thought

SAN FRANCISCO — The incidence and prevalence of uveitis was as much as three times greater in a population-based study in California than in previous estimates, the American Academy of Ophthalmology announced.

Based on the information gathered in the study, which was performed in six communities in northern California, it is estimated that more than 280,000 people in the United States have problems with the disease annually. Uveitis causes 30,000 new cases of blindness each year and up to 10% of cases of blindness overall, according to a press release from the AAO.

David C. Gritz. MD, MPH, and colleagues in the Northern California Kaiser Permanente health care system and at the University of California, San Francisco, conducted the cross-sectional, retrospective study.

Dr. Gritz said that because uveitis is more common than previously believed, as the population ages additional resources may be required to be devoted to the disease.

“These findings should also alert everyone that more effective treatments for both uveitis and its complications will be important in the future,” he said.

The researchers found an incidence of uveitis of roughly 117 cases per 100,000 people. Uveitis was more common among persons aged 65 and older and in women.

The results of the California study are in contrast to the only other U.S. population-based study of uveitis, according to the AAO press release. That study, which involved a small rural community in Minnesota, found 204 cases of uveitis over a 10-year period, with the greatest incidence of the disease in people aged 25 to 44 years.

Ivan Schwab, MD, a spokesman for the AAO and director of the cornea and external disease service at the University of California, Davis, said, “The investigator’s analysis raises very important issues. ... This is a surprise to all of us that work in the field.”

The study is published in the March issue of Ophthalmology.