Seasonal Incidence of New Uveitis Diagnoses Across the United States.

OBJECTIVE

To explore the population level trends in new incidence of uveitis diagnoses as they relate to seasonal variation across the United States.

DESIGN

Retrospective cross-sectional study.

SUBJECTS: Subjects with uveitis in the TriNetX Research USA "No Date Shift" network between 2016 and 2024.

METHODS

Subjects with uveitis as identified by International Classification of Disease -10 encounter diagnoses codes were collected. They were further stratified based on anatomic location (anterior, intermediate, panuveitis, posterior, scleritis, unspecified/systemic) or etiology (infectious, noninfectious, idiopathic). Uveitis diagnosis was calculated as incident cases by season from a baseline ophthalmology patient population and further analyzed using analysis of variation (ANOVA) to isolate significant trends.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Incidence and difference between group means of new uveitis diagnosis stratified by season, anatomic, and etiologic classification.

RESULTS

ANOVA post-hoc comparisons between seasons showed no association between all permutations of seasonal variations. When stratified by etiology, infectious uveitis had significantly lower incidence in the spring months compared to summer (Mean -3.75, 95% CI -7.49 to -0.02, p = 0.049).

CONCLUSIONS

This study presents a novel observation that infectious uveitis may vary based on season. Prospective studies are needed to verify these observations.