Patient Clinical Outcomes in Standalone Versus a Combined Ophthalmology-rheumatology Uveitis Clinic
Recommended Citation
Ross BX, Habhab S, Syeda S, Baiyasi A, Benchaala I, Okeagu C, Barbosa J, Im J, Le K, and Lin X. Patient Clinical Outcomes in Standalone Versus a Combined Ophthalmology-rheumatology Uveitis Clinic. J Ophthalmic Inflamm Infect 2022; 12(1):36.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
11-7-2022
Publication Title
J Ophthalmic Inflamm Infect
Abstract
BACKGROUND: To evaluate uveitis care outcomes in standalone versus a combined ophthalmology-rheumatology clinic.
METHODS: Participants were patients aged 18 years and older with a minimum 12-month history of chronic uveitis prior to being referred to the combined uveitis clinic at Kresge Eye Institute and who were treated in the combined clinic for at least 6 months. Best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), objective markers of inflammation, and achieving targeted dose of immunomodulatory therapy (IMT) were compared in the cohort of uveitis patients 6 months prior to and after the initial evaluation in the combined clinic.
RESULTS: Sixty-six percent of study participants were female with a mean age of 51.5 years. BCVA improved from 0.58 logMAR (Snellen: ~20/74) at the initial combined clinic visit to 0.50 logMAR (Snellen: ~20/63) 6 months after the first combined visit (p = 0.0137). The establishment of the combined uveitis clinic led to higher frequency of patients at target dose of IMT: an increase from 49.0% at 6 months prior to the combined visit to 70.1.4% and 79.8% at the initial combined visit and 6 months after the combined visit, respectively.
CONCLUSION: A combined model of management for chronic uveitis patients wherein rheumatological services are coupled with ophthalmic care leads to improvement in patient clinical outcomes and achieving target therapy.
PubMed ID
36344850
Volume
12
Issue
1
First Page
36
Last Page
36
