Course evaluation and evolution of uveitis in patients with rheumatic diseases

Objective: analyze the course and the development of uveitis associated with many rheumatic diseases. Methods: the authors conducted a retrospective study based on records Analysis of 37 patients with previous diagnosis of uveitis during the period from 2000 to 2008. Results: the association uveitis-rheumatic disease was observed in 26 patients (70,3 %); the others 11 (29,7 %) had idiopathic uveitis. The most common diagnoses were Idiopathic Juvenile Arthritis (56,8 %) of the sample, followed by Idiopathic Uveitis (29,7 %) and Seronegative Spondyloarthritis (8,1 %). The most frequent way of onset was after the underlying disease (58,8 %) and the most frequent localization was anterior uveitis (70,3 %). A total of 57 affected eyes were evaluated. The authors observed association between positive antinuclear antibody (ANA) and the emergence of uveitis and the most patients with positive ANA developed complications (65,0 %). The most frequent complications were cataract (30,2 %) and posterior synechiae (13,7 %). It was observed that all patients using biologic agents presented complicated uveitis at some stage of the disease, what could be explained by greater severity of uveitis in patients who required the use of these drugs. Conclusion: the characteristics of uveitis associated with rheumatic diseases in this study were similar to those found by other authors and they emphasize the importance of regular eye evaluation in rheumatic diseases.