Clinical characteristics of optic neuritis in Hong Kong population: 10-year review

Purpose To review the clinical course of adult patients with acute optic neuritis over 10 years in Hong Kong, and the results were compared with other studies among Asian and Caucasian patients. Methods This study retrospectively analysed the clinical features of 38 adult patients (51 eyes) presented with optic neuritis in a Hong Kong hospital over 10 years (2001-2010). Results Optic neuritis had a female predominance (68%). The mean age of presentation was 40 years old. Disc swelling (39%) was more common compared to the optic neuritis treatment trial (ONTT). The recovery time ranged from no recovery to 5 years, with a mean of 6.0 months. However, vision continued to deteriorate despite initial improvement in 45% of patients. Only 11.8% of the eyes attained final visual acuity (VA) of 1.0 or better, while 31.4% had VA 0.1 or worse. Multiple sclerosis or neuromyelitis optica only occurred in 10.4% of patients. Three of our patients who did not receive any treatment showed faster recovery than the average. Conclusions Optic neuritis in Hong Kong is mostly a clinically isolated syndrome. Our patients presented at a later age and showed a worse visual outcome. Corticosteroid according to ONTT protocol remained our mainstay of treatment although it did not benefit our patients as much as ONTT study. More work on the long-term prognosis and treatment strategies is worthwhile among Chinese optic neuritis patients.