Pediatric Uveitis in a Tertiary Referral Center in East China: Clinical Patterns and Visual Outcomes

Background: To describe the clinical patterns and visual outcomes of pediatric uveitis at a tertiary referral center in East China. Methods: Retrospective case series. Clinical records of patients with pediatric uveitis who presented between January 2014 and July 2021 were reviewed. Results: The children included (n = 283; 146 females, 137 males) had a mean age at presentation of 10.6 ± 3.5 years. There was a predominance of chronic (62.9%), noninfectious (81.3%) disease, and anterior uveitis was the most common uveitis type (54.8%). Idiopathic chronic anterior uveitis (17.3%) and juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA)-associated anterior uveitis (16.3%) were the most common noninfectious types; ocular toxocariasis (14.8%) and viral retinitis (1.4%) were the most common infectious etiologies. Ocular complications were observed in 53.0% of patients during follow-up. Systemic immunosuppressive therapy was administered to 66.8% of patients, 67.2% of whom required immunosuppressive drugs and/or biological agents (127/189 children). Surgical treatment was conducted in 38 (13.4%) patients. Improvement or preservation of visual acuity was observed in 95.2% of patients for whom follow-up visual acuity was recorded (179/188 patients). Conclusions: Pediatric uveitis was predominantly chronic and noninfectious, with anterior involvement. Systemic therapy was required by most patients, and most eyes showed improved visual acuity.