PRESENTING AUTHOR

To determine the effectiveness and medium and long-term effects of TNF-α inhibitors in pediatric uveitis

Review of medical charts

Included were 50 patients (84 eyes), of whom 35 were females (70%). Mean age at time of diagnosis was 7.22±4.04 years. At baseline (time of initiation of
biologic therapy), all patients had active uveitis. It was anterior in 51 eyes (60.71%), intermediate in 19 eyes (22.61%), posterior and panuveitis in seven eyes each (8.33%). Complete control of ocular inflammation was achieved in 84.52% (n=71) of eyes, after a median of 3 months (IQR 2 months). Mean LogMAR BCVA at baseline was 0.23 ±0.44; it remained stable at 12 and 24 months. Mean prednisone dose at baseline was 13.70±13.47 mg/day, it decreased to 3.82±3.02 mg/day and 2.84±2.81 mg/day
(p<0.0001) at 12 and 24 months, respectively. At baseline, 64% of patients were treated with oral corticosteroids, this decreased to 29.5% at 12 months (p=0.001) and to 21.9%
at 24 months (p<0.001). Mean time to prednisone dose of ≤ 0.2mg/kg/day was 8.1±2.02 months after baseline. 42.5% of eyes were treated with topical steroids at baseline and
this significantly decreased to 6.3% at 12 months. Multiple linear regression model was calculated to predict moderate and severe visual loss; only presenting visual acuity
accounted for a unique variance in the model.

TNF-α inhibitors achieved rapid disease control while enabling remarkable systemic and topical steroid-sparing effect in children suffering from chronic uveitis. Presenting visual acuity was the sole predictor of moderate to severe visual loss.