Epidemiology

Uveitis has been said to cause between 2.8 and 10% of blindness in the USA and cause approximately 30,000 new cases of blindness per year. Even if uveitis does not result in blindness, it can cause visual loss and multiple other ocular complications. In the Northern California Epidemiology of Uveitis Study, 31.9% of the patient cohort was affected by one or more complications over the 12-month study period (Gritz DC and Wong IG, The Northern California Epidemiology of Uveitis Study, previously unpublished data.). Thus, uveitis represents an important group of sight-threatening conditions. Uveitis is not only responsible for significant loss of vision and ocular morbidity, but also results in great medical economic costs and personal impact on patients in the form of financial and psychological stress (Gritz DC and Wong IG, unpublished data). Despite the facts, there is a paucity of evidence-based data on the epidemiologic, socioeconomic, and therapeutic aspects of this disease. Thankfully, the number of publications in this area seems to be expanding.