Prognosticators for visual outcome in sarcoid uveitis.

PURPOSE

The purpose of the study is to delineate the visual prognosticators in sarcoid-associated uveitis given the current standards of care.

METHODS

The records of 60 patients with sarcoid-associated uveitis who were observed for at least 6 months were studied retrospectively. Multivariate regression models using the generalized estimating equations approach to adjust for the correlation between fellow eyes were applied to determine disease, patient, and treatment characteristics that altered the odds of visual rehabilitation.

RESULTS

One hundred twelve eyes of 43 women and 17 men who met the inclusion criteria were identified. Seventy-seven percent of patients were white, 15% black, and 8% of Hispanic origin. Uveitis developed in the patients at a mean age of 42 (range, 4-82) years. Of the 112 affected eyes, 81% had granulomatous and 15% nongranulomatous uveitis. Most patients (66%) had anterior or intermediate uveitis alone. Ninety-one percent had chronically smoldering disease; another 7% had recurrent flares, and only 1 patient had a monophasic acute course to her uveitis. Vision-threatening complications developed in many patients, including 58% in whom cystoid macular edema developed and 25% in whom media opacities developed, requiring cataract surgery or vitrectomy or both. Overall, 34% of treated eyes and 51% of patients had final visual acuities that were superior to their acuities at presentation. The factors most significantly associated with a final visual acuity of worse than 20/40 after controlling for potential confounders were as follows: delay in presentation to a subspecialist (odds ratio [OR] = 2.94, P = 0.05), total duration of uveitis (OR = 1.04, P = 0.09), development of cystoid macular edema (OR = 0.37, P = 0.07) or glaucoma (OR = 4.54, P = 0.02), presence of intermediate (OR = 5.00, P = 0.01) or posterior uveitis (OR = 8.33, P = 0.04), and systemic steroid use (OR = 0.30, P = 0.03) were the parameters most strongly correlated with a lack of visual acuity improvement. Delay in presentation to a subspecialist (OR = 20.00, P = 0.01), development of glaucoma (OR = 50.00, P = 0.005), presence of intermediate (OR = 25.00, P = 0.02) or posterior uveitis (OR = 50.00, P = 0.02), black race (OR = 11.11, P = 0.02), (log) visual acuity at presentation (OR = 0.05, P = 0.0001), and use of systemic steroids (OR = 0.07, P = 0.02).

CONCLUSION

Multivariate outcomes analysis, particularly after correcting for the correlation between fellow eyes, is a useful analytic tool for optimization of standards of care and for disease risk stratification to aid both physicians and patients.