Ocular manifestation of tuberculosis

ABSTRACT

To determine the prevalence of ocular involvement in patients with tuberculosis [TB] infection. All patients with a new diagnosis of TB who were referred to Zahedan Tuberculosis Center underwent a complete ophthalmic examination. Any cases of known ophthalmic disease or previous ocular involvement were excluded from the study. Prevalence of ocular involvement with 95% confidence interval [95% CI] was calculated. Out of 444 eyes of 222 TB patients, 19 eyes [4.3%, 95% CI 2.6-6.6%] of 17 patients [7.7%, 95% CI 4.5-12.0%] had some ophthalmic lesions ascribable to TB. The most frequent ophthalmic lesions were choroidal tubercles in 4 eyes [21.1%]; interstitial keratitis and acute iritis each in 3 eyes [15.8%]; chorioretinitis, peripapillary nodule and lid lupus vulgaris each in 2 eyes [10.5%]; and retinal vasculitis, vitritis and lateral rectus paresis each in one eye [5.3%]. The ocular involvement was unilateral in 88.2%. Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that only the duration of TB before treatment had direct correlation with ocular involvement [odds ratio= 5.22, 95% CI 1.57-17.35]. The frequency of ocular involvement in TB in the study population is at least 3 times greater than other countries. Early treatment of TB can reduce ocular involvement and prevent other complications of the disease