Juvenile idiopathic arthritis-associated uveitis: Data from a region in western Greece

Ioannis Asproudis¹, Felekis Taxiarchis¹, Elena Tsanou², Spiridon Gorezis², Eikaterini Karali³, Sapfo Alfantaki³, Antigoni Siamopoulou-Mauridou³, Miltiadis Aspiotis¹

¹University Eye Clinic of Ioannina, Greece; ²Epirus Vision Center, Ioannina, Greece; ³Department of Child Health, University of Ioannina, Greece

Objective: To evaluate the characteristics and visual prognosis of juvenile idiopathic arthritis-associated uveitis (JIA).

Methods: A retrospective review was performed on 56 patients who met the criteria for JIA to identify those with uveitis and related complications. Patients were referred to and were examined in the Pediatric Department of the University Hospital of Ioannina, between 1995 and 2007.

Results: The prevalence of JIA-associated uveitis was high. Despite this and the related complications, the final visual outcome was satisfactory in the majority of the cases. Authors did not observe any correlation between prognosis and sex, age at the onset of uveitis or arthritis, pattern of arthritis, or positivity for antinuclear antibodies (ANA).

Conclusion: We found a remarkably high prevalence of uveitis and related ocular complications in 7 (28%) of the patients, and the rate of poor visual outcome was 12%.

Keywords: idiopathic arthritis, uveitis, visual complications, autoimmune disease