To evaluate the role of HLA typing as a diagnostic test in patients with uveitis.
Design
Perspective derived from a literature review and analysis of reported results.
Methods
Published data on the HLA associations of several uveitis entities and their prevalence among patients and the general population were used to calculate the positive predictive value of HLA testing as a diagnostic test for these disorders.
Results
For nearly all diagnostic entities evaluated (including multiple sclerosis–associated intermediate uveitis, birdshot chorioretinitis, sympathetic ophthalmic, Behçet disease, and Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease), the positive predictive value was low (< 0.50), indicating the limited usefulness of routinely applied HLA typing as a diagnostic test. HLA-B27 testing may be of value in identifying a previously undiagnosed or misdiagnosed spondyloarthropathy among patients with recurrent acute anterior uveitis.
Conclusions
In general, HLA typing has limited usefulness as a diagnostic test in patients with uveitis.
aDepartment of Ophthalmology, The Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, New York
bDepartment of Medicine, The Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, New York
cDepartment of Epidemiology, The Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland
Inquiries to Douglas A. Jabs, Mount Sinai Hospital, One Gustave L. Levy Place, Box 1183, New York, NY 10029
ABSTRACT