Background: To evaluate the usefulness of a systematic study of patients with uveitis and to assess the associated systemic diseases.
Methods: 200 patients seen in an outpatient clinic for the evaluation of uveitis between 1981 and 1988 were included in the study. Patients with eye disease associated with drug abuse or human immunodeficiency virus were excluded. The study protocol included an initial clinical and ophthalmological evaluation followed by selected specific investigations.
Results: Anatomical localization: anterior uveitis 122 (61%), posterior 41 (20.5%), panuveitis 30 (15%) and intermediate 7 (3.5%).
Etiology: 74 cases (37%) were secondary, 101 (50.5%) were idiopathic, and 25 (12.5%) were specific syndromes of uveitis of unknown cause. Toxoplasmosis was the most common cause of infective uveitis, and ankylosing spondylitis was the most common noninfective cause. Diagnostic process: group 1, diagnosed by the ophthalmological investigation (25 cases); group 2, diagnosed on the basis of the accompanying clinical features and/or specific investigations (66 cases); and group 3, diagnosed by wider detection methods (8 cases).
Conclusions: There was a remarkably high rate uveitis without etiological diagnosis. The evaluation of patients with uveitis requires a careful evaluation of ocular and systemic features, followed by selected specific investigation. The indiscriminate use of diagnostic tests is not warranted.