title: Changing patterns of intraocular inflammatory disease in Japan.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We investigated the frequencies and clinical characteristics of Japanese patients with uveitis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Records of 189 patients referred from April 1999 to March 2001 were retrospectively reviewed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fifty-six patients (29.6%) had anterior uveitis, 13 (6.9%) intermediate uveitis, 59 (31.2%) posterior uveitis, 58 (30.7%) panuveitis, and three (1.6%) papillitis. The most common diagnoses were Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada (VKH) disease (10.1%), biopsy-proven or presumed sarcoidosis (9.5%), acute anterior uveitis (7.9%), tuberculosis (6.9%), and Behçet's disease (5.8%). Seventy-three patients (38.6%) were treated with local therapy alone, and 95 patients (50.3%) required systemic therapy. Ocular complications developed in 19.6% of patients, and systemic complications in 2.1%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results confirm a continued high frequency of VKH disease and sarcoidosis, but suggest a decreased frequency of Behçet's disease and an increased frequency of tuberculosis. Roughly one-half of the patients required systemic treatment in addition to local therapy, and ocular and/or systemic complications developed in one-fifth of the patients.
authors.affiliation: Kyorin Eye Center, Kyorin University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan. aokada@po.iijnet.or.jp
authors.forename: Toshiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wakabayashi
authors.forename: Yoshihiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Morimura
authors.forename: Yuko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Miyamoto
authors.forename: Annabelle A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Okada
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001528:Behcet Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012507:Sarcoidosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014392:Tuberculosis, Ocular / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014605:Uveitis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014607:Uveomeningoencephalitic Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*