OBJECTIVE: Observe the profile and the frequency of juvenile idiopathic arthritis-associated uveitis (JIA-U) in patients followed at a tertiary pediatric hospital. METHODS: Retrospective study of patients with JIA attended from January to July 2019 at the pediatric rheumatology department. RESULTS: 41 charts were reviewed, from which four (9.75%) presented uveitis, all of them being diagnosed with JIA before seven years old and all of them with ocular complications. Concerning the subtype of JIA, two patients had persistent oligoarticular subtype and two had the negative rheumatoid factor poliarticular subtype. Three patients (75%) with JIA-U were antinuclear-antibody (ANA) positive. All patients presented uveitis within the first 4 years of JIA. CONCLUSION: Around 10% of the patients with JIA presented uveitis. In the JIA-U group, the following were observed: ANA positivity, JIA diagnosis before 7 years old and development of uveitis within the first 4 years of articular disease. The presence of ocular complications in all of the patients with JIA-U reveals the severity and the importance of tracking back this ocular manifestation.
