Epidemiological properties of Behçet's disease patients who had been followed up at Behçet's disease center

Abstract

Objective: Behçet's disease (BD) with an unknown etiology, is a chronic, multisystemic inflammatory disease characterized by exacerbations and remissions. The aim of this study was to describe and asses clinical and laboratory findings of patients who were being followed in our center. Material and Methods: Results of 114 Behçet patients diagnosed according to International Behçet's Disease Study Group (1990) criterias, admitted to Ufuk University Behçet's Disease Centre between 2006-2014 were included. Results: Of the 114 patients, 66 were female (58%), 48 (42%) were male. The mean age of patients was 37.5±12.8 years. All patients had oral ulcers with a mean duration of 11.1±8.8 years. Oral ulcers were located most frequently on tongue (n=103, 92%), mucous areas of lips (n=102, 91%) and cheeks (n=97, 87%). Between the sexes genital ulcers, erythema nodosum, and acneiform lesions showed no significant difference in terms of incidence. Pathergy test was positive in 44 (39%) patients, of these 22 (33%) were female and 22 (46%) were male (p=0.32, chi-square test). The most frequently seen clinical type was mucocutaneous BD (98%) which was followed by ocular (40%) and articular (22%) involvement. There was no significant correlation between clinical type of disease and gender. Comparing test results according to disease activity, CRP was found to be significantly higher in active phase (median=8,6 mg/L; 0.1-238) than inactive phase (median= 2.1 mg/L; 0.1-70.9) (p<0.01) Mann-Whitney U test. Conclusion: Mucocutaneous BD was the most frequently seen clinical type, whereas there was no significant difference in terms of involvement and gender. CRP level was found to be significantly higher during active phase of disease. We believe that inducing specialized centers for the follow up of BD, which is frequent in our country, and collection of results there about would contribute to a better understanding of the nature of the disease, especially considering the multisystemic characteristic of it. © 2015 by Türkiye Klinikleri.