Scleritis is a vision-threatening inflammatory condition of the white portion of the eye, or the sclera, that is thought to be the result of an over-reaction of the body's immune system. A new study published in Arthritis & Rheumatology provides estimates of the incidence and prevalence of scleritis between 1997 and 2018 in the U.K.
Investigators found that the U.K. incidence of new cases appears to have fallen by about one-third over the past 22 years, to 2.8 new cases per 100,000 people per year. This trend is likely due to improvements in the management of immune-related diseases. Individuals who developed scleritis often had immune-related diseases before or after being diagnosed with scleritis.
"This study highlights how the use of routinely collected large-scale data offers unprecedented opportunity to advance understanding of the epidemiology of rare conditions and their associations," the authors wrote.
More information: Tasanee Braithwaite et al, Epidemiology of scleritis in the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2018: Population‐based analysis of 11 million patients and association between scleritis and infectious and immune‐mediated inflammatory disease, Arthritis & Rheumatology (2021). DOI: 10.1002/art.41709
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