Ocular manifestations among Jordanians with inflammatory bowel disease. hospital-based study in asymptomatic patients

ABSTRACT

To study the ocular manifestations of inflammatory bowel disease and to investigate whether they are related to disease activity, site of occurrence, and presence of arthritis. A randomized controlled prospective study that was conducted at King Hussein Medical Center during the period between June 2008 and December 2008. One hundred and thirty patients attending inflammatory bowel disease clinic were enrolled in the study. First five patients attending the clinic were selected each week to ensure randomization. Data collected included type of disease, duration, treatment, presence of active disease, site of involvement and presence of arthritis. The randomly selected patients were referred to ophthalmology clinic where they had anterior and posterior segment examination by the same senior ophthalmologist. We investigated the relationship between ocular involvement and type of disease, site of involvement, presence of disease activity and presence of arthritis. Data was collected and compared with a control group of 130 normal subjects. Relatives of patients attending ophthalmology clinic for various reasons were randomly selected as a control group. P-value was calculated to see statistical significance. A total of 130 patients were studied. Mean age of patients was 46.8 years [range 16.2 to 82.2 years] with a male to female ratio of 1.11. Seventy patients had ulcerative colitis and 60 patients had crohn's disease. Episcleritis was seen in 12 patients, dry eyes in 9 patients and iritis in 8 patients. One patient was found to have uveitic glaucoma. None of the patients had corneal involvement, scleritis, or retinal vascular involvement. Fifty patients had active disease and 80 were in remission. All patients with episcleritis and iritis had active bowel disease. Tortuous episcleral vessels were seen in 16 patients; the majority of them had inactive disease. Patients with history of arthritis or colonic involvement had more risk of ocular involvemt. The results of our study showed that ocular manifestations of inflammatory bowel disease are related to disease activity, site of involvement and presence of arthritis