Prevalence and characteristics of ophthalmological extra-intestinal manifestations in Chinese patients with inflammatory bowel disease.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the prevalence of ophthalmological extra-intestinal manifestations (O-EIMs) in Chinese patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and to identify risk factors for the development of O-EIMs.


METHODS
The study population consisted of Chinese patients with a definite diagnosis of Crohn's disease (CD) or ulcerative colitis (UC) in a large teaching hospital between January 1995 and December 2014. Demographic and clinical characteristics of patients were extracted retrospectively.


RESULTS
In this twenty-year cohort, 645 IBD patients (517 with UC, 128 with CD) were registered. Among them 122 (18.9%) exhibited at least one EIM. Of 13 patients (2.0%) developed O-EIMs, 7 of CD (5.5%) and 6 of UC (1.2%). Clinical ophthalmological manifestations included redness (76.9%), burning (61.5%), pain (38.5%), itching (15.4%) of eyes and vision change (7.7%). O-EIMs included episcleritis (7), uveitis (5) and dry eye (1). O-EIMs were more prevalent in female (odds ratio for male 0.61, 95% confidence interval 0.52-0.73,P<0.0001), and patients who had IBD diagnosis at young age (odds ratio for patients aged >30 years 0.76, 95% confidence interval 0.65-0.88,P<0.0001).


CONCLUSIONS
The frequency of O-EIMs in Chinese patients with IBD is lower than the rates reported in the studies of European and American countries. Episcleritis and uveitis are the most common O-EIMs. O-EIMs are more frequent in patients with CD and more prevalent in female and patients who have IBD diagnosis at young age.
Department of Gastroenterology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710061, Shaanxi Province, China.
Ying-Chao
YC
Li
Department of Gastroenterology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710061, Shaanxi Province, China.
Wei-Zhi
WZ
Li
Department of Ophthalmology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710061, Shaanxi Province, China.
Chang-Rui
CR
Wu
Department of Gastroenterology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710061, Shaanxi Province, China.
Yun
Y
Feng
Department of Gastroenterology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710061, Shaanxi Province, China.
Li
L
Ren
Department of Gastroenterology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710061, Shaanxi Province, China.
Chen
C
Mi
Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710004, Shaanxi Province, China.
Yang
Y
Li
episcleritis; inflammatory bowel disease; ophthalmological extraintestinal manifestations; uveitis