Clinical and etiologic characteristics of de novo uveitis in patients aged 60 years and above: experience of a French tertiary center.

PURPOSE: To describe the characteristics of de novo uveitis in patients >/= 60 years old. METHODS: Retrospective review of patients with uveitis followed in our tertiary center over a 14-year period. Patients aged 60-70 years and patients aged > 70 years were compared. RESULTS: A total of 283/1044 (27.1%) patients with uveitis were >/= 60 years of age. Idiopathic uveitis (36.1%) and sarcoidosis (31.5%) were the most frequent etiologies. Sarcoidosis was significantly more frequent (31.5% vs. 13.7%, p < 0.0001) after the age of 60 years. Intraocular lymphoma (5.0% vs. 1.1%) and herpes virus infection (5.0% vs. 0.9%) were also more common in this age group, unlike HLA B27-related uveitis and spondyloarthritis (4.6% vs. 14.9%). Pure ophthalmologic entities: birdshot retinochoroidopathy (2.8%) or Fuchs uveitis (0.4%), were rare in patients >/= 60 years of age and Posner Scholssman, Pars planitis, White dots syndrome, Behcet's disease, and Multiple Sclerosis were never reported. In patients > 70 years old, idiopathic uveitis (41.1% vs. 31.7%) and presumed sarcoidosis (56.5% vs. 25.6%) were more frequent than in the 60-70-year age group. CONCLUSION: In our center, sarcoidosis is the leading cause of non-idiopathic uveitis in older patients. Idiopathic uveitis and other entities account for less than two-thirds of cases. Ophthalmologic entities are rare after 60 years of age. We also report for the first time the characteristics of uveitis after 70 years of age.