Demographic and Clinical Characteristics of Uveitis in Turkey: The First National Registry Report

PURPOSE: To describe the demographic and clinical profiles of uveitis patients seen at secondary and tertiary care centers in Turkey. METHODS: A nationwide web-based registry of patients with uveitis was initiated in November 2008. We analyzed data from a single baseline registry-enrollment visit. RESULTS: In 33 centers, 6967 eyes of 4863 consecutive patients were registered. The mean age at presentation was 36.6 ± 15.7 (1-92) years; 51.3% were male. Behçet disease was the leading diagnosis (24.9%), followed by ankylosing spondylitis and/or HLA-B27-associated anterior uveitis (9.7%), toxoplasmosis (7.1%), Fuchs uveitis (6.3%), and presumed herpetic anterior uveitis (6.0%). Visual acuity was 0.1 or worse in 22% of eyes. The most common ocular complications were posterior synechiae (16.2%) and cataract formation (16.2%). CONCLUSIONS: Behçet disease is still the most common non-infectious etiology in Turkish uveitis patients, while ocular toxoplasmosis and herpetic anterior uveitis are the most common infectious uveitic entities.