Review of de novo uveitis in older adults presenting to a large tertiary centre

Background/aimsThe primary aim of this study was to describe the causes of de novo uveitis in individuals 60 years and older. Secondary objectives were to determine the incidence of intraocular lymphoma and the clinical predictors of lymphoma.MethodsRetrospective chart review of all subjects presenting to the uveitis service at Auckland District Health Board (Auckland, New Zealand) between January 2006 and October 2020Results686 subjects (900 eyes) were aged ≥60 years at first presentation with uveitis, representing 23.4% of all subjects with uveitis during the study period. Non-infectious aetiology occurred in 631 (70.1%) eyes and infectious etiologies occurred in 269 (29.9%) eyes. The most frequent causes were idiopathic (36.3%), herpes zoster (14.8%), HLAB27 (8.7%) and sarcoidosis (4.8%). Twenty (2.2%) eyes of 13 (1.9%) subjects had a diagnosis of lymphoma. Lymphoma represented 11.2% of all intermediate uveitis. Subjects diagnosed with lymphoma did not develop posterior synechiae, epiretinal membrane, cystoid macular oedema or ocular hypertension.ConclusionsIntraocular lymphoma was uncommon in the overall cohort, but an important cause of intermediate uveitis. A diagnosis of lymphoma needs to be considered in any older subject with de novo intermediate uveitis. The lack of posterior synechiae, cystoid macular oedema, epiretinal membrane and ocular hypertension further increases the suspicion for lymphoma.