Uveitis in the elderly: Clinical and demographic characteristics

Purpose: To describe clinical characteristics and etiological profile of uveitis presenting for the first time in the elderly and explain its therapeutic challenges and evolutive particularities. Methods: Retrospective review of 170 patients in the department of ophthalmology in Fattouma Bourguiba University Hospital, in the period between January 2007 and January 2021. Results: During the study, 221 eyes of 170 patients were affected by uveitis. The mean age was 59.32 ± 7.32 years and a female gender predominance was registered (61.1% were women). The most prevalent anatomical pattern was anterior uveitis (45/170; 26.4%) followed by panuveitis (33.5%). According to laterality, bilateral involvement (53.6%) was more registered. The majority of cases were chronic (67.2%), acute cases occurred in 31.7%, the rest of the cases (10%) were recurrent. Idiopathic uveitis was diagnosed in 21 cases (12.3%). A definitive or presumed specific aetiology was determined in most of our cases (87.7%), the most common specific aetiology in our case series was sarcoidosis (15.2%) followed by ocular Tuberculosis (12.9%), Herpes simplex virus anterior uveitis (10.5%), and chronic recurrent Vogt‐Koyanagi‐Harada disease (9.4%). An Infectious aetiology was established in 39.4% of the cases and noninfectious systemic autoimmune causes accounted for 24.1%. 53 eyes (16.2%) of 33 patients (19.4%) presented complications during the studied period. The most common ocular complication was uveitic cataract occurring in 38% of the cases. Conclusions: Epidemiological characteristics of uveitis in the elderly population is different from other age categories, which should influence the diagnostic approach in these patients.