Ocular manifestations of HLA B 27 associated uveitis: a study of 255 cases from a tertiary eye care centre from South India

Purpose To describe the clinical profile of HLA B-27-associated uveitis in Indian population. Method We conducted a retrospective review of medical records of 431 eyes of 255 consecutive patients with HLA B-27-associated uveitis, presented to our institute between 2012 and 2017. Result The study observed a male preponderance (75.7%) and the mean age of patients was 35.6 +/- 13.3 years. A total of 412 (95.3%) eyes had anterior uveitis, 17(3.9%) eyes had anterior and intermediate uveitis and 3 eyes (0.7%) had intermediate uveitis. Retinal vasculitis was detected in four eyes (0.9%). A total of 176 patients (69%) in the study had evidence of systemic disease and 85% patients developed recurrences. In addition to the treatment with topical and oral steroid, immunosuppressive was required in 39.6% patients and 4% patients received biological therapy. The majority of the eyes (78.4%) had a good visual outcome, while 61 (14.2%) eyes had moderate visual impairment and 32 (7.4%) eyes had severe visual impairment at the time of final follow-up. Conclusion HLA-B27-associated uveitis can be associated with higher number of posterior segment involvement than it is estimated and aggressive therapy in moderate-to-severe uveitis can prevent severe visual impairment in these patients.