Longitudinal Association of Systemic Autoimmune Disease and Infection in Undifferentiated Uveitis: A Large…

Cohort studyOcular immunology and inflammation· Jul 2026

Longitudinal Association of Systemic Autoimmune Disease and Infection in Undifferentiated Uveitis: A Large Multicenter Cohort Study from the United States.

Jamie Surgent-Nahay, Bhavik Uttam Panchal, Muhammad Z Chauhan … Ahmed B Sallam

UveitisCohort studyPrognosisQ2IF 1.7

Systemic autoimmune disease diagnosed in about 26% of undifferentiated uveitis patients by 15 years.

Longitudinal Association of Systemic Autoimmune Disease and Infection in Undifferentiated Uveitis: A Large Multicenter Cohort Study from the United States.

Jamie Surgent-Nahay … Ahmed B Sallam

Ocular immunology and inflammation · Jul 2026 · Q2 in Ophthalmology

Purpose

To determine the long-term association of systemic autoimmune disease, infection, and vitreoretinal lymphoma in patients initially diagnosed with undifferentiated uveitis, stratified by anatomical location.

Methods

Retrospective cohort study using a multicenter electronic health records database.

n = 703 patients

Results

checked over 15 years: about 1 in 4 patients later diagnosed with an autoimmune disease

25.93%

Systemic autoimmune di

11.61%

Infectious disease

More results

Mean age was 51 years.

The cohort was predominantly female (21,894, 57%), non-Hispanic (27,915, 72%), and White (20,467, 53%).

Inflammatory spondyloarthropathy (spondyloarthropathy) showed the greatest systemic diagnosis outcome (8.62%) while herpes viruses were the predominate infectious etiologic diagnosis (8.02%).

More results

Etiologies varied by anatomy with inflammatory spondyloarthropathy demonstrating the greatest cumulative incidence among anterior uveitis (34.14%), multiple sclerosis displaying a high cumulative incidence among intermediate uveitis (7.23%), and lymphoma concentrating in posterior/panuveitis (0.35%-5.22%).

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Conclusion · 1 of 2

Undifferentiated uveitis potentially carries a risk of association with systemic autoimmune disease compared to other etiologies over time. Although less frequent, infectious etiologies remain a significant presence in later diagnoses.

Conclusion · 2 of 2

Longitudinal monitoring is critical for the correct etiological diagnosis of uveitis.

Longitudinal Association of Systemic Autoimmune Disease and Infection in Undifferentiated Uveitis: A Large Multicenter Cohort Study from the United States.

Longitudinal Association of Systemic Autoimmune Disease and Infection in Undifferentiated Uveitis: A Large Multicenter Cohort Study from the United States.

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