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. 2023 Dec 5;12(24):7510.
doi: 10.3390/jcm12247510.

Eye Disease in Patients with Rheumatic Diseases: A Retrospective Observational Cohort Study

Ralf Altenberger  1 , Teresa Rauchegger  2 , Gertrud Haas  2 , Barbara Teuchner  2 , Michael Schirmer  2
Affiliations

Eye Disease in Patients with Rheumatic Diseases: A Retrospective Observational Cohort Study

Ralf Altenberger et al. J Clin Med. .

Abstract

Data on eye diseases in rheumatic patients are limited. The aim of this study was to retrospectively assess the prevalence of ophthalmologic diseases in patients at a rheumatology outpatient clinic who also visited the ophthalmologic clinic. For this retrospective observational cohort study, a chart review was performed according to the STROBE guidelines. In this cohort, an ophthalmologic diagnosis was made in 26.9% of the 1529 rheumatic outpatients, whereas from a rheumatologic perspective, inflammatory non-infectious diagnoses dominated, at 71.7%. From an ophthalmologic perspective, diagnoses without inflammatory pathophysiologic backgrounds dominated, at 54.9%. Inflammatory non-infectious ophthalmologic disease was diagnosed in 24.2% of patients with rheumatoid arthritis and 29.3% of patients with peripheral spondyloarthritis. Not a single rheumatoid arthritis patient was diagnosed with anterior uveitis; however, 16.5% of spondyloarthritis patients were diagnosed with anterior uveitis (p < 0.001). The prevalence of uveitis was 16.3% in axial and 20.1% in peripheral spondyloarthritis. In conclusion, an interdisciplinary rheumatologic-ophthalmologic setting appears justified to further improve the management of patients with rheumatic diseases.

Keywords: HLA-B27; arthritis; healthcare; immune-mediated disease; multidisciplinary; ophthalmology; rheumatology; spondylitis; uveitis.

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Conflict of interest statement

The data were included in R.A.’s diploma work submitted to the Medical University of Innsbruck. The authors declare no other conflicts of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow chart showing the selection of charts with the overlap of rheumatic and ophthalmologic diagnoses.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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