Epidemiology and Prevalence of Uveitis: Review of Literature

Purpose: To review epidemiological aspects of uveitis in Asia and compare it with few major reports from outside of this continent Methods: We have reviewed 522 articles concerning the causes and patterns of uveitis and 22 major epidemiology reviews, registered from 1962 to 2009 in Medline-Database. We have selected 7 major reviews from Asia and compared it with five major articles from Africa, France, East and West USA and Argentina. We have also used 59 reviews and reports to show some local and regional aspects of uveitis in developed and underdeveloped countries and to indicate the changes in trends of uveitis in recent years. Results: In these collected data from 12 countries, 14.0% to 51.2% no cause has been found for the uveitis (idiopathic). In almost all these reports noninfectious uveitis (45.0% to 94.8%) dominated the infectious causes. Infectious uveitis such as tuberculosis, leptospirosis ... are present more frequently in the developing countries with exception of herpes simplex which is dominated in the western world. Toxoplasmosis remains the predominant etiology of posterior uveitis in most reports, excluding cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinopathy which has dominated all causes of posterior uveitis during the last 30 years due to the global extension of AIDS. Conclusion: Despite all the new progresses in laboratory techniques, imaging technology and finding new causes for uveitis such as HTLV1 and HLA dependent diseases, the number of uveitis with unknown etiology (idiopathic) is increasing. That could indicate the uprise of new immunological phenomena. The prevalence of uveitis which was estimated to be around 17.4 per 100,000 population in 1960’s, in a more recent investigation has been reported to be 52.4 per 100,000 people and the incidence seems upraising.