title: Associations of Systemic Diseases with Intermediate Uveitis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the associations of systemic diseases with intermediate uveitis.
  
  
  METHODS
  The medical records of 50 consecutive cases with intermediate uveitis referred to The Eye Center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, were reviewed. Age- and sex-matched patients without uveitis served as controls. Patients had complete ophthalmic and medical examinations.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 27 male and 23 female patients. Mean age was 29 years with a range of 5-62 years. Overall, 21 cases (42%) had systemic disorders associated with intermediate uveitis and 29 cases (58%) had no associated systemic disease. A total of 11 patients (22%) had asthma, 4 (8%) had multiple sclerosis, 3 (6%) had presumed ocular tuberculosis, 1 (2%) had inflammatory bowel disease, 1 (2%) had non-Hodgkin lymphoma and 1 (2%) had sarcoidosis. Evidence of systemic disease was found in 50 (5%) of the 1,000 control subjects. Bronchial asthma was found in 37 patients (3.7 %), multiple sclerosis in 9 patients (0.9%), inflammatory bowel disease in 3 patients (0.3%), and tuberculosis in 1 patient (0.1%). None of the control patients had sarcoidosis or lymphoma. There were statistically significant associations between intermediate uveitis and bronchial asthma (p = 0.0001), multiple sclerosis (p = 0.003) and tuberculosis (p = 0.0005).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Bronchial asthma and multiple sclerosis were the most frequently encountered systemic diseases associated with intermediate uveitis in our patient population. Patients with intermediate uveitis should undergo careful history-taking and investigations to rule out associated systemic illness.
authors.affiliation: a The Eye Center and The Eye Foundation for Research in Ophthalmology , Riyadh , Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Samir S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Shoughy
authors.affiliation: b King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital , Riyadh , Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Igor
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kozak
authors.affiliation: a The Eye Center and The Eye Foundation for Research in Ophthalmology , Riyadh , Saudi Arabia.|c Department of Ophthalmology , College of Medicine, King Saud University , Riyadh , Saudi Arabia.|d The Wilmer Ophthalmological Institute of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine , Baltimore , MD , USA.
authors.forename: Khalid F
authors.initials: KF
authors.lastname: Tabbara
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001249:Asthma / Q000150:complications*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015212:Inflammatory Bowel Diseases / Q000150:complications*; D008228:Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin / Q000150:complications*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000150:complications*; D012507:Sarcoidosis / Q000150:complications*; D012529:Saudi Arabia; D014392:Tuberculosis, Ocular / Q000150:complications*; D015867:Uveitis, Intermediate / Q000150:complications*
keywords: Asthma; intermediate uveitis; multiple sclerosis; tuberculosis; uveitis