0501: Multicentre Study of Uveitis in Spondyloarthritis: Prevalence, Characteristics, and Prognosis

Nikolaos Kougkas¹, Konstantina Magiouf², Chrysoula Gialouri³, Gerasimos Evangelatos⁴, Maria Pappa², Afroditi Mpitouli⁵, Alexios Iliopoulos⁶, Theodoros Dimitroulas⁷, Anastasios Karamanakos⁸, Aikaterini Dimouli⁸, Maria Tektonidou², Petros Sfikakis⁹ and George Fragoulis¹⁰, ¹4th Internal Department, Ippokratio Hospital, Aristotle University of Thesaaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece, ²Joint Academic Rheumatology Program, First Department of Propedeutic and Internal Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece, ³National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Zografou, Greece, ⁴Rheumatology Department, 417 Army Share Found Hospital (NIMTS), Athens, Greece, ⁵Fourth Department of Internal Medicine, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece, ⁶NIMTS Veterans Hospital, Zografou, Greece, ⁷Aristotle University of Thessaloniki - School of Medicine, Thessaloniki, Greece, ⁸“Evangelismos” General Hospital, Rheumatology Department, Athens, Greece, ⁹National Kapodistrian University of Athens Medical School, Athens, Greece, ¹⁰\"Laiko\" Hospital - First Department of Propaedeutic and Internal Medicine, Athens, Greece

Background/Purpose: Data are still scarce about risk factors predicting the occurrence and course of uveitis in spondyloarthritis (SpA). We aimed to examine associations between demographic, clinical, and/or laboratory characteristics of SpA with the occurrence and the course (including eye damage and recurrence rate) of uveitis.

Methods: Characteristics (at disease diagnosis and ever-present) from all SpA patients in 3 tertiary rheumatology-clinics (1/2018-1/2023) were retrospectively recorded. Comparisons were made between patients with and without uveitis, as well as between subjects with uveitis rate [episodes/year] above the median uveitis rate in the whole cohort and those without persistent uveitis. In multivariable models, age, gender, and variables that were statistically significant in univariate analyses were included.

Results: 264 AxSpA and 369 PsA patients were enrolled. In AxSpA, uveitis occurred in 11.7% and was associated (multivariable analysis) with HLA-B27 (OR = 4.15, 95% CI 1.16-14.80, p=0.028) and ever-present peripheral arthritis (OR 3.05 (1.10 – 8.41, p=0.031;) (Table 1). In PsA, uveitis was reported in 2.7% of patients and was associated with SpA family history (p=0.023; 6.35 (1.29-31.27), axial disease at diagnosis (p=0.038; 5.61 (1.01-28.69) and disease duration (. p=0.004; 1.12 (1.04-1.21) (Table 2). Median uveitis rate was 0.205 for AxSpA and 0.285 for PsA. No associations were found between those above the above rates and demographic/clinical/laboratory characteristics. Permanent vision damage was seen in 16.1% of AxSpA and 30% of PsA patients, all of them with recurrent uveitis.

Conclusion: Uveitis in SpA is associated with specific characteristics. Permanent eye damage is not rare, especially in those with recurrent uveitis.






N. Kougkas: None; K. Magiouf: None; C. Gialouri: None; G. Evangelatos: None; M. Pappa: None; A. Mpitouli: None; A. Iliopoulos: None; T. Dimitroulas: None; A. Karamanakos: None; A. Dimouli: None; M. Tektonidou: None; P. Sfikakis: AbbVie/Abbott, 2, 5, Amgen, 2, 5, Boehringer-Ingelheim, 2, 5, Celgene, 2, 5, Eli Lilly, 2, 5, Janssen, 2, 5, Novartis, 2, 5, Pfizer, 2, 5; G. Fragoulis: None.