Epidemiology of uveitis in Japan: a 2016 retrospective nationwide survey

Purpose: To investigate the epidemiology of uveitis in Japan and assess its changes over time. Study design: Retrospective multicenter study Methods: Sixty-six hospitals in Japan with uveitis specialty clinics participated in this retrospective nationwide survey. A questionnaire was sent to each hospital to survey the total number of patients who made a first visit to the outpatient uveitis clinic of each hospital between 1 April 2016 and 31 March 2017. The diagnosis of uveitis was based on guidelines when available or on commonly used diagnostic criteria. Results: In 2016, new patients with uveitis accounted for 3.2% of the total number of new patients with ophthalmic diseases. A total of 5378 patients were enrolled in the survey; 3408 cases could be classified with a specific uveitis entity, and 1970 cases were described as unclassified intraocular inflammation. Among the classified cases, the most frequent disease was sarcoidosis (10.6%), followed by Vogt–Koyanagi–Harada disease (8.1%), herpetic iritis (6.5%), acute anterior uveitis (5.5%), sclerouveitis (4.4%), Behçet’s disease (4.2%), malignant disease (2.6%), acute retinal necrosis (1.7%), Posner–Schlossman syndrome (1.7%), and diabetic iritis (1.4%). The rates of sarcoidosis, Vogt–Koyanagi–Harada disease, and Behçet’s disease were similar; however, the rate of herpes iritis increased (4.2–6.5%) when compared with the 2009 survey. Conclusions: Some changes were observed between the previous nationwide surveys (2002 and 2009) and the present survey. It must be valuable to continue such nationwide epidemiologic surveys at regular intervals.