The Incidence and Prevalence of Uveitis in Psoriasis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

BACKGROUND: The systemic effects and comorbidities of psoriasis include ocular disorders, such as uveitis. Patients with psoriatic arthritis in particular have been demonstrated to have an elevated risk for developing uveitis. Presently, the risk of uveitis in psoriasis has yet to be fully elucidated and this systematic review seeks to address this gap. OBJECTIVE: To examine the prevalence and incidence of uveitis in psoriasis patients compared to non-psoriasis patients. METHODS: We conducted a systematic review search on MEDLINE, Embase, and CENTRAL electronic databases with no lower limit on year of publication. RESULTS: Fourteen articles met our inclusion criteria, with a total of 234 143 psoriasis subjects. Two studies found that participants with severe psoriasis were at a greater risk of uveitis than those with mild psoriasis. A random-effects meta-analysis of the 3 studies, which reported risk of incidence of uveitis in psoriasis patients compared to non-psoriasis controls, found a pooled risk ratio of 1.29 (95% CI, 1.10-1.51), indicating an increased risk of uveitis in psoriasis. Three studies compared risk of uveitis in psoriatic arthritis with psoriasis-only participants, all finding that psoriatic arthritis was associated with a greater risk of uveitis. CONCLUSIONS: In summary, our findings suggest that psoriasis is associated with an increased risk of uveitis, with or without psoriatic arthritis.