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.