Uveitis in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease

Abstract

There are currently no official uveitis screening guidelines for children with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). In this retrospective cohort study of children with IBD with at least 1 ophthalmologist examination over 12 years, we investigated the prevalence and characteristics of uveitis in pediatric IBD. Outcomes included prevalence of uveitis, age at onset, and clinical characteristics of uveitis. A total of 315 children with IBD (mean age, 11.7 ± 4.3) had 974 eye examinations. Five children (1.6%; 95% CI, 0.7%-3.7%) had uveitis, with mean age at onset of 14.3 ± 5.6 years. Three of 209 children with Crohn's disease (1.4%; 95% CI, 0.5%-4.1%), 2 of 55 with IBD-unclassified (3.6%; 95% CI, 1.0%-12.3%) and 0 of 51 with ulcerative colitis (95% CI, 0.0%-7.0%) had uveitis. All uveitis was symptomatic. In our study cohort, uveitis was rare and symptomatic in pediatric IBD.