Original articleClinical Characteristics of a Large Cohort of Patients with Scleritis and Episcleritis
Section snippets
Patients
The electronic health records were reviewed of all patients with scleritis or episcleritis seen at MERSI, Cambridge, Massachusetts, during the 5-year period from April 2005 through April 2010, and at the Institute Clinic of Ophthalmology, Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain, during the 3-year period from April 2007 through April 2010. The institutional review board of each clinical center reviewed the study protocol before initiating the study (approved for MERSI and not required
Demographic and Clinical Characteristics
Of 4909 new patient referrals to the MERSI, Cambridge, Massachusetts, during the 5-year period from April 2005 through April 2010, 8.7% of the patients had scleritis and 1.4% had episcleritis. A total of 585 patients (825 eyes) constituted the study population. Five hundred of the patients (706 eyes) had scleritis (85.5%) and 85 patients (119 eyes) had episcleritis (14.2%; Fig 1). Most of the patients with scleritis had anterior scleritis (469 patients; 93.8%), including 375 (75.0%) with
Discussion
A total of 500 patients with scleritis and 85 patients with episcleritis were reviewed in 2 tertiary referral centers. The results inevitably are biased to higher numbers of patients with scleritis compared with patients with episcleritis. A significant factor in this is underreporting of episcleral disease. Many patients with previously diagnosed episcleritis understand that recurrent episodes are unlikely to cause damage to the eye, so either they do not treat the condition or they
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Financial Disclosure(s): The author(s) have no proprietary or commercial interest in any materials discussed in this article.
Manuscript no. 2011-567.