The incidence of ocular manifestations is higher in patients with Crohn’s disease compared to ulcerative colitis

1. Among patients with adult-onset inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), the incidence of ocular manifestations was 2.9 per 1000 person-years.

2. The incidence of ocular manifestations was higher in patients with Crohn’s disease (CD) than ulcerative colitis (UC). 

Evidence Rating Level: 2 (Good)21

Extraintestinal manifestations are common in patients with IBD, with ocular manifestations such as episcleritis and scleritis representing the third most commonly affected organ system. Previous studies have reported that the prevalence of ocular manifestations in IBD may range from 2 to 12%, yet longitudinal data remain limited, especially in the adult IBD population. This retrospective cohort study therefore sought to investigate the incidence of ocular manifestations in patients with adult-onset IBD. 15,035 patients (median age at diagnosis[IQR], 37.4[26.3-52.1] years; 51.8% CD; 50.72% female) with new-onset IBD between 2005 and 2024 from the Maccabi Healthcare Services in Israel were included in this study. The incidence of ocular manifestations was 2.9 per 1000 person-years (95% CI, 2.62-3.24%) with a cumulative incidence of 1.7%, 2.7% and 3.7% at 5, 10 and 15 years, respectively. Among patients who developed an ocular manifestation, 63.3% (221/349) of patients had CD while 36.6% (128/349) had UC. Overall, this study found that the incidence of ocular manifestations in patients with adult-onset IBD was 2.9 per 1000 person-years and higher among patients with CD compared with UC.

Click here to read this study in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

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