Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and other rheumatic diseases may present with ocular manifestations.The purpose of our work was to determine the prevalence and type of eye involvement in RA and other connective tissue diseases through a metaanalysis and literature review.
A systematic review of the literature was performed using Medline, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library from their inceptions until January 7, 2019. Conjunctivitis, keratoconjunctivitis sicca, xeropthalmia, uveitis, eye hemorrhage, optic neuritis, papilledema, orbital disease, retinal artery/vein occlusion, macular edema, retinitis, chorioretinitis, scleritis, iridocyclitits, choroid hemorrhage, blindness, and amaurosis fugax were searched for prevalence in patients with RA, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), antiphospholipid syndrome (APS), dermatomyositis, polymyositis, systemic sclerosis, Sjögren syndrome (SS), undifferentiated connective tissue disease, giant cell arteritis, granulomatosis polyangiitis (GPA; formerly Wegener granulomatosis), systemic vasculitis, and sarcoidosis.
There were 3394 studies identified and 65 included. The prevalence of eye involvement was 18% in RA, 26% in GPA, 27% in giant cell arteritis, 27% in sarcoidosis, 31% in SLE, and 35% in APS. The most common manifestation was dry eye syndrome ("dry eye"; keratoconjunctivitis sicca) in most diseases analyzed, with an especially high frequency of 89% in SS. Anterior and posterior uveitis were the most common ocular complications in sarcoidosis, occurring in 16% (95% CI 3-28) and 6% (95% CI 3-9) of patients, respectively.
Eye involvement is present in approximately one-fifth of patients with RA, and a one-quarter to one-third of patients with connective tissue diseases (other than SS at 89%) and vasculitis.