Smoking as a risk factor for cystoid macular edema complicating intermediate uveitis.
OBJECTIVE
To describe risk factors for the presence of cystoid macular edema (CME) among patients presenting with intermediate uveitis.


METHODS
Cross-sectional study.


METHODS



METHODS
Single-center, academic practice.


METHODS
Two hundred and eight patients with intermediate uveitis evaluated from July 1, 1984 through September 30, 2006.


METHODS
Clinical and demographic data were entered retrospectively into a database and analyzed.


METHODS
Presence of CME at presentation to our clinic; risk factors for presenting with CME.


RESULTS
Of the 208 patients, 74% had bilateral intermediate uveitis, yielding 363 affected eyes. Eighty-nine patients (43%) had CME in at least one eye at the time of presentation to our clinic. After controlling for potentially confounding variables including demographics, duration of disease, active intraocular inflammation, history of diabetes mellitus or hypertension, and presence of epiretinal membrane, actively smoking at presentation was associated with a four-fold increased risk of CME at presentation vs never smoking (odds ratio (OR), 3.90; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.43, 10.66; P = .008). Former smoking also appeared to increase the risk of CME at presentation in the multivariate analysis, but the result was of borderline statistical significance (OR, 1.97; 95% CI, 0.99, 3.94; P = .055). After adjusting for confounding, there was a 4% increased risk of CME at presentation for each cigarette smoked per day (OR, 1.04; 95% CI, 1.01, 1.7; P = .005).


CONCLUSIONS
CME was a common structural ocular complication observed in our cohort. Current smoking was associated with a dose-dependent increased risk of having CME at the time of presentation to our clinic.
Thorne
Jennifer E
JE
Department of Ophthalmology, the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA. jthorne@jhmi.edu
Daniel
Ebenezer
E
Jabs
Douglas A
DA
Kedhar
Sanjay R
SR
Peters
George B
GB
Dunn
James P
JP
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008269:Macular Edema / Q000209:etiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000009:adverse effects*; D015867:Uveitis, Intermediate / Q000150:complications*