title: The ocular and systemic prognosis of patients presenting with sarcoid uveitis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe the visual and systemic outcomes in patients presenting with sarcoid uveitis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Seventy-five patients with definite or presumed sarcoid uveitis were followed up for a median of 4 years. The patients came from a primary ophthalmic referral centre and a specialist uveitis centre. The prognostic value of demographic and clinical features at the onset of disease were studied. Baseline and outcome variables were analysed by survival analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  After 10 years, 54% of patients retained normal visual acuity and 4.6% had lost vision to less than 6/36 in both eyes. Fifty-one per cent required oral steroids for uveitis and a further 11% needed additional immunosuppressants. Twenty-one per cent of patients had undergone a surgical procedure. At the onset of uveitis the lung was the most common organ involved (35%). After 10 years follow-up disease spread to other organs in 13 patients (17%); in 8 of 13 patients this was the central nervous system. The only outcome associated with baseline variables was bilateral visual loss, which was more likely in those over 40 years at presentation (p = 0.004).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The ocular prognosis of sarcoid uveitis is unrelated to the extent of disease at onset. Patients with extraocular disease fared no differently from those with isolated ocular disease. Patients with sarcoid uveitis are at risk of neurological involvement for at least 15 years.
authors.affiliation: Medical Eye Unit, St Thomas' Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Edelsten
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pearson
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Joynes
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Stanford
authors.forename: E M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Graham
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D012507:Sarcoidosis / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014605:Uveitis / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D014786:Vision Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D014792:Visual Acuity