Epidemiology of uveitis in a region of southern Sweden

To analyse the distribution and treatment of uveitis in a region of southern Sweden and compare the results with previously reported European data.

Anonymized data for all individuals in the region with an ICD-10 diagnosis that indicated uveitis between 2013 and 2017 were extracted from a computerized healthcare register.

In total, 2483 patients were diagnosed with uveitis during 2013-2017. Anterior uveitis was diagnosed in 93%, intermediate in 1%, posterior in 5% and panuveitis in 1% of cases. An associated diagnosis was found in 14%, and the five most common associated diseases were herpes simplex/zoster (4.9%), inflammatory bowel disease (2.2%), rheumatic arthritis (1.9%), ankylosing spondylitis (1.8%) and sarcoidosis (1.8%). Systemic treatment was used in 14% of the cases. The period prevalence of uveitis was 700 cases per 100 000 individuals, and the yearly incidence was estimated to 108 cases/year/100 000 individuals.

Compared with studies from referral clinics, this community-based study had a large proportion of anterior uveitis (93%) and uveitis without associated diagnosis (86%). Uveitis was also much more common among elderly than shown in previous research. The distribution of possible associated diagnosis conformed to several previous European studies.