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Review
. 2015 Feb;40(2):146-61.
doi: 10.3109/02713683.2014.932388. Epub 2014 Jul 2.

Gender disparities in ocular inflammatory disorders

Hatice Nida Sen  1 , Janet Davis, Didar Ucar, Austin Fox, Chi Chao Chan, Debra A Goldstein
Affiliations
Review

Gender disparities in ocular inflammatory disorders

Hatice Nida Sen et al. Curr Eye Res. 2015 Feb.

Abstract

Ocular inflammatory disorders disproportionately affect women, and the majority of affected women are of childbearing age. The role of sex or reproductive hormones has been proposed in many other inflammatory or autoimmune disorders, and findings from non-ocular autoimmune diseases suggest a complex interaction between sex hormones, genetic factors and the immune system. However, despite the age and sex bias, factors that influence this disparity are complicated and unclear. This review aims to evaluate the gender disparities in prevalence, incidence and severity of the most common infectious and non-infectious ocular inflammatory disorders.

Keywords: Disparity; gender; ocular inflammation; sex; uveitis.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Biopsy proven sarcoidosis-associated panuveitis diagnosed at age 52 years in an African-American female. Fundus photograph of the right eye shows retinal vasculitis, retinal vascular sheathing, old segmental exudates inferiorly and punched-out chorioretinal scars. Her vision (20/25 OU) is well preserved due to aggressive systemic immunomodulatory therapy.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Italian male with Behcet's Disease (BD) and panuveitis diagnosed at age 15 years. The right eye which showed hypopyon uveitis (A) early in the disease course developed chronic retinal detachment (B) and eventually resulted in blindness with anterior and posterior segment complications (C) despite multiple attempts to treat medically and surgically. His left eye remains quiescent on long-term immunomodulatory therapy with good visual acuity (20/32) despite diffuse attenuation of retinal vasculature and thinning/atrophy of the retina (D).
Figure 3
Figure 3
A 40-year-old African-American female with Native American heritage with Vogt–Koyanagi–Harada Syndrome-associated panuveitis. Both eyes show retinal pigment epithelial changes and chorioretinal scars which resulted in “sunset glow fundus” appearance, particularly in the left eye.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Fundus photos of a 40-year-old myopic female with punctate inner choroidopathy (PIC) demonstrate a macular scar secondary to choroidal neovascularization (CNV) in the left eye and active macular lesions with late leakage on fluorescein angiogram in the right eye.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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