Pattern of uveitis in an Egyptian population with multiple sclerosis: a hospital-based study

To investigate the prevalence and pattern of uveitis in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS).

This is a cross-sectional, observational, descriptive clinical study of patients with MS who had complete ophthalmological examination. Data collected comprised demographics of the patients and complete ocular examination findings. Exclusion criteria were history of ocular surgery, trauma or diagnosis of any other ocular pathology.

Seventy-five patients with a mean age of 32.64 years (ranging from 16 to 50) diagnosed with MS of the relapsing-remitting type were included in this study. There were 34 males and 41 females, a ratio of 5:6. The mean duration of the MS disease was 5.6 years. Eight eyes of 7 patients with a mean age of 20 years had intermediate uveitis, of which 5 were males. Out of the 7 patients, 5 had exacerbated MS, and 2 were in remission; 4 had relative afferent pupillary defect. In the 8 eyes with uveitis, 6 had a best spectacle-corrected visual acuity (BSCVA) of 1, 1 had a BSCVA of 0.5 and 1 had a BSCVA of 0.25.

Uveitis occurs in about 10% of patients with MS affecting younger males with exacerbated disease. Most inflammations of the uveitic MS patients were in the form of intermediate uveitis that was controlled with medication with no visual threatening complications.