Uveitis in older patients.

Uveitis usually occurs in patients between 20 and 50 years of age. We determined the percentage of patients over 50 years old who were referred to a major medical center uveitis clinic and what types of uveitis affected persons in this age group. We found that the older patients had uveal inflammatory diseases similar to those of younger persons. Uveitis after 70 years of age was found to be rare. The conditions of 34% of the patients were misdiagnosed before referral with uveitis; the majority of these patients had senile degeneration.