PATTERNS OF UVEITIS AT A TERTIARY REFERRAL CENTER IN YEMEN: ONE CENTRAL RETROSPECTIVE STUDY

Essam Yahiya Al-Shamahi; Najeeb Mothana Muhsin; Emad Hassan Al-Shamahi; Hassan Abdulwahab Al-Shamahy

doi:10.22270/ujpr.v7i2.743

Essam Yahiya Al-Shamahi The Eye Consultation Center, Sana'a city, Yemen. Opthalmology Department, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sana’a University, Republic of Yemen.
Najeeb Mothana Muhsin Medical Microbiology and Clinical Immunology Department, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sana’a University, Republic of Yemen.
Emad Hassan Al-Shamahi The Eye Consultation Center, Sana'a city, Yemen. Opthalmology Department, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sana’a University, Republic of Yemen.
Hassan Abdulwahab Al-Shamahy The Eye Consultation Center, Sana'a city, Yemen. Medical Microbiology department, Faculty of Medicine, Genius University for Sciences & Technology, Dhamar city, Republic of Yemen.

10.22270/ujpr.v7i2.743

Keywords:

Behçet’s syndrome, complications, Epidemiology, HLA-B27, Panuveitis, retrospective study, Uveitis, Yemen

Abstract

Background: Uveitis is described as a disorder of the eye so as to leads to the iris, ciliary body, choroid, and adjacent parts of the eye inflammation. The disturbances may produce impermanent or continuing visual impairment or sightlessness.

Purpose: The main purpose of the study was to reveal the causes of uveitis in a referral center in Sana'a city, Yemen. Sequentially the study was conducted to assist in the development and design of preventive policies and diagnostic methods for uveitis in Yemen.

Methods: This cross-sectional, retrospective analysis integrated 65 uveitis patients who were referred to the Eye Consulting Center clinic, from January 2021 to the end of December 2021. Data concerning patient gender, age and anatomical location of disease, clinical and pathological manifestations were collected then evaluated.

Results: The mean patient age at onset of uveitis was 36.3 ± 13.4 (range: 9-75) years. The female to male ratio was 2.6: 1. Sixty-seven percent participated uveitis patients suffered from bilateral involvement. The predominant type was Pan-uveitis (46.2%), anterior acute uveitis (36.9%), intermediate acute uveitis (12.3%) while posterior acute uveitis was less common (4.6%). Considering medical conditions, 53.8% of patients had acute uveitis and 46.2% had chronic uveitis. Laterality, 38.5% had unilateral uveitis while most patients had bilateral uveitis. Also, 53.8% of patients developed complications. Given the possible causes, the most common diagnoses were 'idiopathic' (32.3%), HLA-B27-positive (21.5%), Behçet‘s syndrome (13.8%), and granulomatous uveitis (TB) (9.2%)., seronegative spondyloarthropathy (6.2%), Fuch’s uveitis (6.2%), followed by less common Vogt Koyanagi Harada (4.6%), herpetic uveitis (3.1%), and toxoplasmosis (3.1%).

Conclusion: On the contrary to most uveitis epidemiologic studies the uveitis etiologic and clinical patterns were diverse in a tertiary referral center in Sana’a city, Yemen. Pan-uveitis and anterior acute uveitis were the most frequent clinical pattern in this study, and the most common related causes were HLA-B27 positive and Behçet's syndrome.