Occurrence of Uveitis Among a Large Indian Database of Spondyloarthritis: A Cross-sectional Study

Background: There are only single-centre small studies on the prevalence of uveitis in Indian patients with spondyloarthritis (SpA). Thus, we planned this study, which utilised a large multicentric database of SpA to determine the prevalence and associations of uveitis. Methods: This study utilises data from a database that enrolled patients with SpA across six different Indian hospitals between October 2021 and 2024. Data was collected by face-to-face interviews and subsequently entered into an online database. Details collected included age, gender, disease duration, type of SpA, HLA-B27 status, BASDAI, occurrence of uveitis, including type and number of episodes. The primary objective was to determine the prevalence of uveitis and the secondary objective was to assess its associations with demographic and clinical variables. Results: A total of 1,756 patients with SpA were enrolled in this study. Their age (mean ± SD ) was 40 ± 12.8 years and the median (IQR) disease duration was 5 (2–10) years. HLA-B27 was positive in 78%. Uveitis occurred in 271 of 1,756 patients, giving a prevalence of 15.4%. A majority of these patients reported multiple episodes of uveitis. On multivariable logistic regression, uveitis was positively associated with positive HLA-B27 (odds ratio 1.866, P = .004), disease duration (odds ratio 1.045, P < .001) and age (1.014, P = .049). Conclusions: Uveitis occurred in 271 (15.4%) of 1,756 patients with SpA and was positively associated with age, duration of disease and HLAB27.